Bizarre moment: Trump says Republicans are “eating their young” by working with Romney and former Speaker Paul Ryan – and saying they are only helping “crooked Joe Biden.”
- Former president resorts to a grizzly metaphor as he criticizes the establishment’s attempt to keep him off the ticket
- Comes as Romney and Ryan bar him from summit for “unindicted” candidates to meet potential donors
Donald Trump compared himself to a baby eaten by its own parents as he ripped into the Republican establishment’s latest attempt to keep him off the ballot.
The former president reached for this grisly metaphor as Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan prepare to host a summit for “unindicted” candidates vying for the party’s nomination.
The pair, who led the Republican nomination in 2012, are hosting the two-day summit in Park City, Utah, with the aim of finding an alternative to Donald Trump’s win of the GOP nomination next year.
But Trump claimed they would have beaten Barack Obama in the presidential race if they had fought him so hard.
“Republicans eat their young, they really do, and it’s a terrible statement, but it’s true,” Trump, 77, said on the social media site Truth Social.
“Republicans eat their young, they really do, and it’s a terrible statement, but it’s true,” Trump, 77, said on the social media site Truth Social
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (left) and Utah Senator Mitt Romney host the two-day summit in Park City, Utah, with the goal of finding an alternative to Donald Trump’s win of the GOP nomination next year .
Attendees at the two-day closed-door summit include former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (left) and former Vice President Mike Pence (right).
“And that’s the problem for so many in our party; They simply lack the loyalty and strength to stick together.”
Romney, 76, said last month he would not seek a second term in the Senate after representing Utah since 2018.
“It is quite clear that the party is leaning towards a populist, demagogic message,” he warned, urging younger people to “help shape the world in which they will live.”
Candidates for his forum on Tuesday include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Other speakers include Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and former Attorney General Bill Barr.
Summit maestro Spencer Zwick said those hosting and attending the summit do not accept the assumption that former President Donald Trump will automatically be the nominee in 2024.
‘[They] Don’t just accept that Donald Trump is the nominee,” he told Axios.
“It’s not in their DNA,” Zwick added. “They are genuinely interested in a candidate they are passionate about and can get behind.”
A poll for Fox News on Thursday showed Trump maintaining a 46% lead ahead of his nearest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, ahead of the summit.
But the ex-president criticized the “failed” candidates and their hopes of attracting some wealthy donors.
“Romney, who failed to get elected dogcatcher today in the great state of Utah, should have beaten a completely failed Obama in his first term,” he wrote in a message that he repeated via video.
“If he and RINO Paul had fought Obama as hard as they fought President Donald J. Trump, they never would have lost.”
Trump’s message on Truth Social, which he repeated in a video message on Saturday
“That is the problem for so many in our party.” They simply lack the loyalty and the strength to stick together.
“They are going after people who are on their side, not the radical left-wing Democrats who are destroying our country.”
“These people are losers, and the Republican nation must stop following their failed ideas and policies.” They are only helping the worst president in the history of the United States. The most corrupt president. The most incompetent president. Crooked Joe Biden.
“We don’t want to help him.” We have to get him out of office. The Republican Party should unite, and unite quickly. We need Joe Biden out of this. He’s destroying America.’