EXCLUSIVE — Democrats are trying to undermine former President Donald Trump‘s attempts to unite the Republican Party behind him by reminding him what his opponents for the 2024 nomination said about him when they were still in the race.
The Democratic National Committee is underscoring the past statements of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), in addition to biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), as they return to the campaign trail to stump for Trump before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary and as the former president stokes speculation about possible vice presidential choices.
“Donald Trump is too unpopular to win a general election, makes indefensible racially offensive comments, and is so untrustworthy he isn’t safe to do business with,” DNC spokesman Alex Floyd told the Washington Examiner. “Those aren’t our words — that’s what Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, and Doug Burgum said about Trump before caving to the leader of the GOP’s extreme MAGA movement. So don’t take it from us; just listen to Trump’s top surrogates about why he is too toxic to voters to ever make it back to the White House.”
The DNC pointed to Scott, a potential vice presidential pick, undercutting Trump’s electability and foreign policy, particularly regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin and his remarks concerning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack, as well as his reaction to the 2017 Unite Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“Our former president, I voted for him twice,” Scott said last November during the Florida Republican Party’s Freedom Summit. “But our party has been underperforming in three consecutive national elections. We have to give back on offense, and that’s why I know we must win.”
“I don’t think he can win,” the senator added during an interview with NBC a month earlier. “You have to be able to win in Georgia. I don’t think he can win in Georgia. I think you’ll have to be able to win in Pennsylvania.”
The DNC also cited Ramaswamy’s questioning of Trump’s electability, calling him “wounded,” and Burgum downplaying the idea of doing business with the former president.
“I just think that it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep,” the governor told NBC last summer.
Aides for Scott and Ramaswamy did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for more information. But alluding to President Joe Biden‘s impeachment inquiry concerning his family’s business dealings, a former Burgum campaign staffer replied, “I think Doug and President Trump, two of America’s greatest businessmen, would welcome a discussion of business with ‘the Big Guy’ and Hunter Biden.”
The DNC’s criticism of Scott, Ramaswamy, and Burgum comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) suspended his campaign last weekend and endorsed Trump despite scrutinizing other Republicans who, in his words, have kissed the former president’s metaphorical ring.
“He’s running a campaign about putting himself and his issues first. That’s what he cares about. You can be the most worthless Republican in America, but if you kiss the ring, he’ll say, ‘You’re wonderful,’” DeSantis said on the eve of last week’s Iowa caucuses.
Meanwhile, Trump has welcomed his former adversaries’s support, telling reporters, for example, he would no longer dismiss DeSantis as “DeSanctimonious.”
“He ran a really great campaign for president. They think it’s easy; it’s not easy,” Trump said last Sunday in New Hampshire of DeSantis. “I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a good job.”
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Instead, Trump has sharpened his attacks on former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival, as he tries to put pressure on her to drop her own bid.
Trump averages 55% of the vote in New Hampshire to Haley’s 37%, according to RealClearPolitics. DeSantis had 7.5%.