While campaigning in New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday, Donald Trump insulted Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
A potential presidential run by his GOP rival was called a great act of disloyalty by the former commander in chief.
Trump said his political life was over when he was elected.
That's fine if he runs. Trump said after his South Carolina speech that he was up in the polls.
He might run, but he will have to do what he wants. I think it would be disloyalty to get him in. He wasn't able to. His politics were over.
Trump told the audience of Republican party leaders that he is more angry at the direction of the country now and that he is more committed to taking back the top job than he was.
The former president criticized his successor.
He said that the garage where the documents were found was a pigsty.
The state GOP's annual meeting was held at Salem High School in Salem, where Biden was reprimanded for the "massive corruption" he saw on Hunter Biden's laptop.
Trump said that the president had a son who had a laptop that exposed corruption.
Is the father upset? The man asked in an aside. "'What's on it, boy?' It is said that every crime that you have ever committed is pop.
The former president launched his third White House run in order to confront the disasters that Joe Biden is leaving in his wake.
He said that the country was being poisoned by such things as a woke military that can't fight or win, and left-wing prosecutors who don't put criminals in jail.
He pointed to the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago and the tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization. They go after me.
Some of the state's top Republicans endorsed Trump at his second campaign appearance.
Graham took a jab at the GOP primary challengers waiting in the wings, saying there are no Trump policies without Donald Trump.
You can discuss his policies, but you can't do the things he did.
In his 40-minute speech, Trump talked about the border, the economy, and social issues.
He promised to cut federal funding to schools that teach far- left content in the classroom.
He said that men would not be allowed to play in women's sports.
Since declaring in November his plans to run for a second non-consecutive term, Trump has stuck to video-released policy statements instead of his rowdy rallies to win back the loyalty of Republicans.
The Granite State poll found Trump trailing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 12 points among New Hampshire Republicans.
The University of New Hampshire poll found that 42% of likely GOP primary voters would vote for Ron DeSantis if the election were held today, compared to 30% for Donald Trump.
The state is the first in the nation to have a primary. He lost New Hampshire to Joe Biden by 7 points in 2020 after coming very close to beating Hillary Clinton there.
A host of big-name Republicans, including former veep Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, UN AmbassadorNikki Haley, and others are expected to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination, although recent national polls show all of them in the single digits.
A Biden-DeSantis race would be a toss-up, with 40% for the incumbent president, 39% for the Republican challenger, according to a new poll.
