WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans stepped up their public criticism of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, with some saying it was time for the party to move on after an unexpectedly poor showing in the midterm elections, though was preparing to launch a third White House. offer next week.
Republican Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, once a Trump supporter, said voters had sent “a very clear message” Tuesday that “enough is enough.”
“The voters have spoken and said they want a different leader. And a true leader understands when they’ve become a liability,” he said in an appearance on Fox Business. “A true leader understands that it’s time to get off the stage. It’s time to move on.”
Earle-Sears, who served as co-chair of a group called Black Americans to Re-Elect President Trump in 2020, also said she “couldn’t” support another Trump campaign.
Some advisers had urged Trump to delay his planned announcement until after the Dec. 6 Senate runoff in Georgia that could determine which party controls the Senate to avoid turning the race into a referendum on him and inadvertently helping the democrats But Trump, rejecting that advice, on Thursday invited reporters to a “special announcement” at his Mar-a-Lago club on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 9 p.m.
That leaves him trying to launch a comeback bid at a time when he is in a position of extraordinary vulnerability after dominating the party, largely unchallenged, since winning the nomination in 2016. Still, Trump s ‘has shown remarkable resistance, retaining the support of its base. , even through the “Access Hollywood” scandal that nearly sank his first campaign, and the deadly assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At the same time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who easily won re-election on Tuesday, is gaining new attention as Republicans openly consider moving on from Trump.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, pointed to Trump’s role in raising some inexperienced and controversial candidates in the primaries earlier this year who lost in this year’s election week
In an interview, Thune said “there is no substitute for good quality candidates.”
“We’ve had a very hotly contested and competitive primary this year,” Thune said. “And in some cases, you know, there were a lot of forces at work, including outside people who were making endorsements in some of these races.”
Thune said he hoped the party would begin to see the emergence of younger leaders.
“You can’t have a party that’s built around one person’s personality,” he said.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who clashed with Trump during his first two years in office, called Trump “a drain on our ticket” who would hurt the party’s chances in 2024.
“We want to win the White House and we know with Trump it’s much more likely we’ll lose,” he said in an interview with WISN 12 News. “If we have a candidate not named Trump, we are much more likely to win the White House than if our candidate is Trump.”
Retiring Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey also blamed Trump’s intervention for the GOP’s losses in his state, noting that Trump-backed candidates did notably worse than other Republicans in the polls.
“I think my party has to face the fact that if loyalty to Donald Trump is the primary criterion for selecting candidates, we’re probably not going to do very well,” he told CNN. “Across the country there is a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and large losses or at least dramatically underperforming.”
Trump has disputed that he had a bad night.
“For those people who are feeding the false narrative from the corrupt media that I’m angry about the midterms, don’t believe it,” he said on his social network. “I’m not mad at all, I did a great job (I wasn’t the one running!) and I’m very busy looking to the future. Remember I’m a “stable genius”.
There is also the possibility that additional Trump-backed candidates will win their races. While the landslide victory predicted by Republicans did not come to fruition, the party still appears well-positioned to flip the House and could eventually take the Senate as well. Many races are too early to call.
“There are no ugly wins or pretty losses,” said Jason Miller, a former Trump campaign staffer who was among those who had advised him to delay his planned announcement until after the Georgia runoff.
“Nancy Pelosi’s political career is over,” he predicted. “Biden’s agenda is dead.”
Other Trump allies issued statements to the media on behalf of the former president, supporting him even before his impending announcement.
“I am proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president in 2024. I fully support him running again,” House GOP Chairwoman Elise Stefanik said in a statement. “It’s time for Republicans to rally around America’s most popular Republican, who has a proven record of conservative governance.”
“If he runs in 2024 he will not only have my support, but he will have the support of millions of Americans across the country,” said Rep. Jim Banks, a top congressional ally.
Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance, who became Trump’s most successful running mate, said that if the former president decides to run again, he is confident he will be the party’s nominee.
“Every year, the media writes the political obituary of Donald Trump. And every year we are quickly reminded that Trump remains the most popular figure in the Republican Party,” Vance said in a statement released after inquiries to the spokesman trump
Trump’s decision to move forward now is motivated, in part, by his desire to try to freeze the field and block support to try to stop the rise of DeSantis, whom he has long viewed as his most formidable potential foe.
In a sign of his growing frustration, Trump issued a lengthy and angry statement Thursday evening chastising Fox News and other Rupert Murdoch-controlled media outlets for “making it all about Gov. Ron DeSanctimonious DeSantis,” whom he called ” a middle-of-the-road REPUBLICAN governor with great PR,” as he again took credit for DeSantis’ 2018 victory.
While Trump allies had previously insisted that reports of tensions between the men were exaggerated, Trump, who has privately criticized DeSantis for not ruling out a run against him, did so publicly.
“Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s not really the right answer,” he wrote, comparing the race to his winning campaign in 2016. “Now we’re in the exact same position. They’re going to keep coming after us, MAGA, but in the end, we will win Put America first and MAKE AMERICA GREAT!
___ Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at And learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at