President Donald Trump went scorched earth yesterday to clear the GOP primary field before his big announcement about 2024.
Trump has scheduled an announcement for November 15, which is widely regarded to be confirmation of his presidential campaign.
Some Republican governors performed so well in their respective elections on Tuesday that many are putting them in 2024 contention.
Outgoing Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump, told CBS’s Robert Costa the election results make him more likely to seek his party’s presidential nomination in 2024.
“I’ve been talking about a bigger tent,” Hogan said.
“And we need that.
“I think there is a battle for which direction the Republican Party will go.
“My side of the party had a really good night.
“Trump’s side did not.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being discussed more than any other potential challenger for Trump, however.
The corporate media and some Republicans have tried to blame the lack of a red wave on Trump while pushing DeSantis’s name forward.
However, the GOP has likely won the majority in the House and could still take the Senate, while the candidates endorsed by Trump mostly won their races.
Trump issued a scathing response to those pointing the figure at him and suggesting DeSantis should replace him, reminding his critics that taking him on will not be easy:
“NewsCorp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post (bring back Col!), is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations, who didn’t have to close up his State, but did, unlike other Republican Governors, whose overall numbers for a Republican, were just average—middle of the pack—including COVID, and who has the advantage of SUNSHINE, where people from badly run States up North would go no matter who the Governor was, just like I did!
“Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017—he was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers.
“Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win.
“I didn’t know Adam so I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot, Ron.’
“When I Endorsed him, it was as though, to use a bad term, a nuclear weapon went off.
“Years later, they were the exact words that Adam Putnam used in describing Ron’s Endorsement.
“He said, ‘I went from having it made, with no competition, to immediately getting absolutely clobbered after your Endorsement.’
“I then got Ron by the ‘Star’ of the Democrat Party, Andrew Gillum (who was later revealed to be a ‘Crack Head’), by having two massive Rallies with tens of thousands of people at each one.
“I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart.
“The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’
“Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”
Trump said of Republican Virginia Governor Glen Younkin, who many think may enter the 2024 race:
“Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me.
“I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him – or he couldn’t have come close to winning.
“But he knows that, and admits it.
“Besides, having a hard time with the Dems in Virginia – But he’ll get it done!
“This is just like 2015 and 2016, a Media Assault (Collusion!), when Fox News fought me to the end until I won, and then they couldn’t have been nicer or more supportive.
“The Wall Street Journal loved Low Energy Jeb Bush, and a succession of other people as they rapidly disappeared from sight, finally falling in line with me after I easily knocked them out, one by one.
“We’re in exactly the same position now.
“They will keep coming after us, MAGA, but ultimately, we will win,” Trump said.
“Put America First and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
