The midterm elections have concluded, McCarthy has been unanimously elected speaker of the House, and the 2024 presidential race looms. Republicans have an abundance of formidable competitors for the Republican presidential nomination, and now coalitions are being formed. Former President Donald Trump, who announced his plans to run for reelection in November, faces other Republicans who may or may not enter the race. Some of these same Republicans may be Trump’s running partners.
According to the Washington Post, Trump’s campaign launch will place him in close proximity to at least two other potential candidates, as well as solicit feedback from his fans on their vote preferences. Trump just announced that he will begin his presidential campaign team in South Carolina, a crucial early primary state, on Tuesday in Columbia with a special ceremony. According to the Post, the Republican governor of the state, Henry McMaster, who has officially endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential run, and Senator Lindsey Graham are among those likely to attend the event.
Graham’s support for Trump is anticipated to be crucial in South Carolina, where two Republican politicians, Senator Tim Scott and former Governor Nikki Haley, are considering running against him in 2024. “Nikki Haley is probably our first South Carolinian since we voted for George Washington that has really had a chance of being president of the United States,” said Katon Dawson, past head of the South Carolina Republican Party, to the Post. “And I think the Trump folks are going to run into that history.”
Now, Trump has gotten a warning from his former advisor Steve Bannon regarding his leadership team.
The inclusion of Senator Graham to the event appears to have alarmed Trump’s former strategist, Steve Bannon. On his War Room show on the conservative news network Real America’s Voice, Bannon referred to Graham as a “snake” and urged the former president not to invite him.
“I have no earthly idea why [Graham’s] around [former] President Trump,” Bannon said. “He’s a cancer. He is a cancer, that’s metastasizing. President Trump’s gotta be warned. There’s nothing good that comes from having [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s mini-me, the snake, Lindsey Graham around you at all.”
Bannon denounces Trump adding Lindsey Graham to his leadership team and doing a SC rally with him this week: “I have no earthly idea why he’s around Trump. He’s a cancer. Trump’s gotta be warned. There’s nothing good with having McConnell’s mini-me, the snake, around you at all.” pic.twitter.com/SFUUKwHOsn
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2023
Newsweek continues:
This latest attack is far from the first time that Bannon has gone after Graham for alleged failure to sufficiently support Trump. In January of last year, Bannon accused Graham of being among the group of five Republicans who had secretly agreed to support parts of President Joe Biden’s political agenda, while not speaking out in fear of losing voter support.
“The five traitors—and this is Republicans and this is the scumbags and slime balls you have here in the nation’s capital… they agree with what [Biden] is doing and they would actually vote and support him but they are afraid of, wait for it, the War Room posse,” Bannon said during another War Room broadcast. “They’re afraid they will get primaried… And they’d be off the money train, they’d be away from the trough. The hog would be away from the trough.
“We need those five senators to have enough guts to step up, we’re going to find out who you are. Have enough guts to step up and tell us, Lindsey Graham, who you are. You five, we need you guys to step up to the plate, Lindsey Graham, and tell us who you are.”
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
Newsweek reached out to Trump and Graham’s offices for comment.
The kick-off for Trump’s campaign in South Carolina will be one to watch. As Graham and McMaster have both already stated support for Trump, other Republicans in South Carolina have not come out in support of other candidates, but are hedging. The Jan 28 event will certainly clarify some of the ambiguous situations in regard to candidate choice in South Carolina. CONTINUE READING…