The handle @realdonaldtrump may be gone, but “45 Office” and the Save America PAC are making sure it is not forgotten.
Former President Donald Trump has found new ways of settling old scores, getting his message out in his new post-Twitter world. Just last week, Trump used statements through his post-presidential office and political action committee to attack President Biden, excoriate rival factions in the Republican Party, and keep himself in the news over a month after leaving office.
“Our great Border Patrol and ICE agents have been disrespected, demeaned, and mocked by the Biden Administration,” the former commander in chief said in one statement on recent illegal entries at the border, which some worry is reaching a crisis level. (Trump himself described it as a “mass incursion” that is “getting worse by the minute.”)
Trump also relitigated his feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, blaming the Kentucky Republican for the party losing both Georgian runoff elections, which gave Democrats control of the chamber once Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president. Trump attributed the defeats to McConnell’s “refusal to go above $600 per person on the stimulus check payments when the two Democrat opponents were touting $2,000 per person in ad after ad.”
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“This latter point was used against our Senators and the $2,000 will be approved anyway by the Democrats who bought the Georgia election — and McConnell let them do it!” Trump called McConnell “the most unpopular politician in the country” whose own seat was saved by a presidential endorsement. “Totally delusional,” one Republican operative said of the comments.
Trump wasn’t done yet. He dinged the Wall Street Journal editorial page, long influential among conservatives, as proponents of “globalist policies such as bad trade deals, open borders, and endless wars.” He added, “They have lost great credibility.”
The ex-president also went after Karl Rove, a former top political strategist for intraparty rival George W. Bush, calling him a “RINO of the highest order,” a “pompous fool” who “always had an agenda,” and “all talk and no action.” Trump said Fox News should “get rid” of Rove as a commentator so the longtime Republican operative can “keep doing a great job for the Democrats.”
“Karl would be much more at home at the disastrous Lincoln Project,” Trump said of a now scandal-ridden organization of Republican strategists who oppose him. “I heard they have numerous openings!”
The statements have all the trademarks of Trump tweets — unconventional capitalization, third-person references to himself, harsh criticisms of political foes, nicknames like Jeff “Flakey” Flake, and lots of swings at fellow Republicans — without the social media website’s 280-character limit.
Both entities attribute their statements to “Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States of America.” They don’t refer to Trump, who has continued to argue the election was stolen through voter fraud and disadvantageous COVID-19 electoral protocols, as a former president.
But Trump does recognize the new administration in his tweet-like statements. “When I left office, we had achieved the most secure border in our country’s history,” he said on Friday. “Under Biden, it will soon be worse, more dangerous, and more out of control than ever before. He has violated his oath of office to uphold our Constitution and enforce our laws.” He ripped the “gross incompetence and radicalism of the people currently in charge.”
Trump was banned from Twitter and other major social media platforms after his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress was certifying the Electoral College results that put Biden in the White House. Trump had used these platforms to repeat claims that the election was stolen, and even some GOP lawmakers found his late appeals for calm inadequate. McConnell’s criticism of Trump’s conduct, even as he voted to acquit the former president in his Senate impeachment trial, led to their current feud.
“It was probably helpful to Trump that he didn’t have Twitter during impeachment,” said a Republican strategist. “How does this help us win back the House and Senate?”
Trump is expected to campaign for Republicans in the midterm elections next year and could run for president again in 2024. Grover Cleveland is the only president in history who served nonconsecutive terms.
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Trump also made headlines with a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. There, too, he savaged the Biden administration while also rattling off a list of Republican lawmakers who had voted for impeachment.
Republicans who had questioned whether Trump could stay relevant without Twitter, which helped him build his political brand while Barack Obama was president, are now having second thoughts. “I think I saw him on the front page last week at least as much as Biden,” said the GOP strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the former president.
