Former President Donald Trump is pushing back on a column published by The New York Times that suggested he is losing his political influence.
Conservative columnist Ross Douthat penned an article titled, “Why Trump Is Weakening,” which was published over the weekend.
He argued that “a big part” of the year “hasn’t been a particularly good year for Trump’s 2024 ambitions.”
“Across 2021, he bent important parts of the G.O.P. back to his will, but in recent months his powers have been ebbing,” Douthat wrote.
However, Trump caught wind of the article and its assertion and released a lengthy statement refuting its premise.
“Incredible how The New York Times just never gives up. One of their third-rate columnists wrote a story on Saturday saying that, despite almost universal victories in every major race, Trump may be losing his power,” he said.
Read the statement below:
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/9Uql0kgxsI
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) July 26, 2022
He went on, “The article, written by Ross Douthat, doesn’t cover ‘minor’ events like the fact that on Tuesday, in the Great State of Maryland, Dan Cox, a person not known but strongly Endorsed by me, absolutely destroyed the Endorsed and highly campaigned for candidate of RINO Governor Larry Hogan. This was a big upset. Fox News said it couldn’t happen!”
“There are far too many races to discuss on our Truth Social platform (which in my opinion is far better than Twitter), but just like The New York Times got a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax (only to since report that the story was a FAKE, it was a made up fairytale of zero truth or consequence), their story about my possible ‘weakening’ power is Fake News,” Trump claimed.
After spending several sentences asserting that his power is not weakening, Trump went on to cite “disadvantages” to his “Endorsement power”:
“I will say that there are disadvantages to having this never before seen Endorsement power. I endorsed Mitch McConnell, who was going to lose in a record fashion, and he ended up winning. I endorsed Brian Kemp in Georgia, who was going to come in last place, and he won in a landslide. And I Endorsed some others who have not been good to me, but I will never be good to them either.”
Finally, Trump said, “The true story is that my Endorsements have been, by any standard, amazing—stronger than ever seen before in our Country’s history.”
“If the opposite case were true, I would be fine with strong reporting on it, but as long as it’s not, report the News correctly and accurately. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
Douthat argued that Trump’s power has been diminished in part because he has “marinated in grievance, narrowed his inner circle, and continued to badger Republican officials about undoing the last election.”
He also suggested that the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has “played some role in bleeding Trump’s strength, by keeping him pinned to the 2020 election and its aftermath.”
Poll results have not shown any easy answer to whether Republicans want Trump to run again. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that nearly half of Republicans said they do not want him to run in 2024.
However, Trump handily won the conservative Turning Point USA summit’s straw poll for potential 2024 candidates.
