Trump’s former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said Wednesday that her former boss should wait until the Georgia runoff next month to announce his candidacy — and hinted he should stay out of Georgia and let Ron DeSantis do the puzzling for Republicans.
“I know there is a temptation to start talking about 2024 — no, no, no, no, no,” McEnany said on Wednesday’s edition of Outnumbered.
2022 is not over yet. All of the Republicans’ energies need to stop Biden’s agenda, and that could run right through the state of Georgia.
After host Harris Faulkner pressed her on whether that meant Trump would delay announcing his re-election, she said, “I think he needs to pause it, for sure.”
McEnany declined to say whether Trump should appear with Walker in the Peach State in the run-up to Dec. 6.
Asked by Faulkner if the former president should go to Georgia, McEnany replied, “I think we have to make strategic calculations. Governor DeSantis, I think he should be welcome in the state, given what happened last night. You have to.” You look at the facts on the ground.
Georgia’s Senate race is expected to head to a runoff on Dec. 6 after neither candidate breached the 50 percent threshold, according to state election law. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock has a slight edge over Republican Herschel Walker.
During an election eve rally in Ohio for JD Vance, Trump put the spotlight back on himself by revealing he’ll have a “major announcement” next week on November 15.
Sources familiar with Trump said the former president was shooting to announce his candidacy ahead of the midterm elections. Many urged him to wait, in part to avoid turning the election into a referendum on him, and in part to avoid censure if Republicans perform poorly on Tuesday.
Trump’s former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said Wednesday that her former boss will have to wait until the Georgia runoff next month to announce her candidacy for the presidency.
Under pressure from host Harris Faulkner on whether Trump should delay announcing his re-election, she said, “I think he needs to pause it, for sure.”
“I know there’s a temptation to start talking about 2024 — no, no, no, no, no,” McEnany said on Wednesday’s edition of “Outnumbered.”
But the former president was eager to shake off the expected GOP momentum. This excitement waned, however, as the Conservatives underperformed their expectations. Many are now blaming Trump for launching unelectable candidates ahead in the primaries and putting loyalty to him and his claims of election fraud above gravity and policy proposals.
On Wednesday, Trump acknowledged Tuesday’s results were “disappointing” to Republicans but called it a victory for himself.
While yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing in certain ways, in my personal view it was a very big victory – 219 victories and 16 losses in general – who did better than that?
Trump shot Walker up front in the primary by backing him, even as he attacked Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Sick. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for not walking the line on allegations of election fraud. Kemp and Raffensperger both won with comfortable leads over their opponents, suggesting that a good number of ticket takers couldn’t vote for the Trump-backed Walker.
Some Republicans are now seeking a new leader for their party, and all eyes, including McEnany’s, are now on Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis after his successful bid for re-election.
“It was the single best case I’ve heard someone make for the Republican Party in some time,” McEnany, a Florida native, said of DeSantis’ victory speech on Fox.
“(Trump) is going to make that decision, and he’s going to make his own decision,” McEnany said. If I’m advising any competitor, DeSantis, Trump, whoever, no one’s announcing 2024 until we’re done December 6th.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Johnson defeated his Democratic challenger, Mandela Barnes, in Wisconsin, as all the major news networks called the race for Wednesday afternoon. The Senate is now hung at a balance of 48-48. Alaska is sure to have a GOP win — despite the ranked choice vote there pitting incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski against Trump-backed challenger Kelly Chebaka.
Arizona is tilting toward the Democrats, though the race is still too close to call, while Nevada is tilting in favor of Republican Adam Laxalt. If trends hold, the fate of the upper chamber is set to unravel after another agonizing month of campaigning for runoff races in Georgia.
Control of the House was also in the balance in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the Democrats did better than expected. Many House races haven’t been called yet, but Republicans are up from 203 to 174.
In Pennsylvania, Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz lost the currently Republican-held Senate seat to Democratic Gov. John Fetterman.
According to The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who recently released a scathing biography on Trump, the former president is privately “furious” over Oz’s loss — and “blames his wife” for tipping him off to support him. They appeared yesterday leaving a polling station in Palm Beach
Trump is said to be ‘furious’ this morning and ‘shouting at everyone’ after the Republicans’ lackluster performance in the midterms – and he is rumored to blame his wife Melania for advising her to endorse defeated Pennsylvania candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“Trump is already angry this morning, especially about Mehmet Oz, and blames everyone who advised him to support Oz – including his wife, calling it not the best decision for her, according to people close to him.” New York Times reporter Maggie Habermann tweeted.
And she continued, “There are people pushing Trump to reschedule his announcement next week, and many Russians have sent text messages asking if he will do it, but it is very risky and they will acknowledge that he was injured yesterday, which some of his advisers insist is not the case.” ”
CNN’s Jim Acosta cites an unnamed consultant who said the president is “angry” and “yelling at everyone” today after last night’s underwhelming Republican results.
Taylor Bowditch, a Trump spokesman, told DailyMail.com that such reports were “completely fake” this morning.
Acosta cites an unnamed counselor who said he was “shouting at everyone” today.
He also took credit for Ron DeSantis’ 2018 win, saying he “wouldn’t be a factor” in the race before it was endorsed.
He wouldn’t even be able to factor in the race. Moments later, the race was over.
I got the nomination. He didn’t get it. I got it, because the moment I gave that endorsement, he got it.
Duncan, the lieutenant governor of Georgia, said Republicans would have fared better with a different set of candidates.
“It turns out that Mitch McConnell knew what he was talking about with the quality of the candidate,” he said, referring to McConnell’s prediction in August that poor quality would affect the outcome.
If they had just woken up 12 months ago, stopped being proactive and taken the initiative in what true conservative Republican politics mean and matter to them, we would be in a different place.
I don’t want to be the one to break the news to him last night or this morning about the results of the candidates they backed and poured money on, it’s time to turn the page.
I’m ready to move on. Who do you know. Donald Trump is going from movement to distraction for the GOP now.
