Top Republican brands Trump a serial loser who is not fit to run
A former New Jersey governor has joined a growing list of top GOP names attacking Donald Trump, casting serious doubts on his bid for a return to the White House.
Donald Trump is a serial loser who is not fit to run for the White House again, a senior Republican said on Monday on the eve of Mr Trump’s expected announcement he will seek re-election in 2024.
“The only winning that has been done since Donald Trump has been president is for Donald Trump,” said Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who challenged Mr Trump in the 2016 Republican primary.
“How about this? When Donald Trump won in 2016 he said we were going to get so tired of winning we would ask him to stop winning so much. In 2018 we lose the House. In 2020 we lose the Senate and the White House.
“In 2021 we lose two winnable [Senate] seats in Georgia. And in 2022 we vastly underperform historic norms given inflation and gas prices and crime and a president at 40 per cent. I’m tired of losing.”
Mr Christie said the Republicans had “nominated some bad candidates, especially on the Senate side”. Mehmet Oz, who had won Mr Trump’s endorsement, lost the Senate seat in Pennsylvania, which had been held by the party. Other Senate candidates that had secured Mr Trump’s backing also lost.
Mr Christie’s comments were the latest from senior Republicans who have attacked Trump, blaming him for the party’s disappointing midterm election results and casting doubt over whether he should run again.
Mr Trump, 76, is expected to announce his third run for the presidency on Tuesday. Fundraising groups emailed supporters at the weekend to solicit campaign donations and to ask who his running-mate might be.
One person it is guaranteed not to be is Mike Pence, Mr Trump’s vice-president between 2017 and 2021. Mr Pence, 63, who is thought to be considering a White House run in 2024, said on Monday that Mr Trump had been reckless on January 6 last year when a mob of his supporters ransacked the Capitol in Washington.
“I mean, the president’s words were reckless,” Mr Pence told ABC News. “It was clear he decided to be part of the problem.”
Mr Pence was at the Capitol to fulfil his constitutional duty as vice-president and certify the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Mr Trump. Some of the people attacking the Capitol held up a noose and chanted: “Hang Mike Pence.”
Mr Pence accused Mr Trump of not having the “courage to do what should have been done”, and allowed a peaceful transition of power.
Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, joined others in saying Mr Trump should not get the party’s nomination in 2024. “This is the third election in a row that Trump has cost us the result, and it’s like, you know, three strikes, you’re out,” he said on State of the Union on CNN.
If there is any solace for Republicans it is that the party appears to be inching closer to securing a small majority in the House of Representatives. It needs to win only six of the 19 seats left to declare across the country.
One Senate seat, in Georgia, is yet to be declared but the Democrats have already won control of the chamber because Kamala Harris, the vice-president, has a tie-breaking vote.
The Times
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