Trump Jr hits out at GOP for not supporting his father with attack that could indicate he is going to run

‘Everyone should be watching who is actually fighting this flagrant nonsense and who is sitting on the sidelines,’ he falsely claimed

James Crump
Thursday 05 November 2020 21:38 GMT
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Donald Trump Jr says 1000 Covid deaths a day 'almost nothing'

Donald Trump Jr has hit out at the Republican party for not supporting his father with a dig aimed at Nikki Haley, who is rumoured to be his future opponent for the 2024 GOP candidacy.

On Thursday, Mike Cernovich, a men’s rights activist, tweeted: “Where are the so-called future of the GOP? Nikki Haley is doing what?” in what appeared to be a reaction to attempts from the Trump campaign to stop the counting of remaining ballots in swing states. 

Mr Trump Jr replied to the tweet: “This is an important point! Everyone should be watching who is actually fighting this flagrant nonsense and who is sitting on the sidelines.

“Republicans have been weak for decades which has allowed for the left to do these things. Let’s end that trend once and for all.”

Follow Live: 2020 election results, updates and analysis

Both Mr Trump Jr and Ms Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations, have been rumoured to be running for the Republican nomination in 2024. Neither of them has filed paperwork or announced their candidacy.

The president’s eldest son later tweeted: “The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP hopefuls’ is pretty amazing.

“They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!”

President Trump falsely claimed victory in the election on Wednesday morning, while he was shown to be winning Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan by a large margin.

However, the results shifted more in favour of Democratic challenger Joe Biden when mail-in-ballots and city votes were counted as the night progressed. The states did not start counting mail-in-ballots until after polls closed.

Mr Biden was declared as the winner of Michigan on Wednesday evening, but Pennsylvania and Georgia are still too close to call, with the results expected later today after the Democratic candidate closed the gap behind Mr Trump in both states.

As the ballots started to shift towards Mr Biden during Wednesday, Mr Trump, alongside members of his family and campaign, declared that he had won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, and called for votes to stop being counted.

Comments claiming the president had won Pennsylvania were also posted by the White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and Mr Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump.

The Trump campaign also issued lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, in an attempt to stop the counts in the states.

Despite protests from supporters of Mr Trump also taking place outside vote-counting centres in multiple swing states, President Trump has not received support from high-profile Republicans.

However, multiple Republican officials have criticised President Trump, as former GOP Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge called The president’s attempts to stop votes being counted in multiple states “un-American”.

Mr Ridge, who also served as secretary of homeland security during George W Bush’s presidency, said on a call organised by a group called the National Council on Election Integrity, that Mr Trump’s comments were “wrong,” according to Yahoo News.

“I’m grateful and truly grateful that so many Republicans, so many conservative Republicans, have repudiated his remarks as being inappropriate — I’ll say un-American”, Mr Ridge said.

He added: “Because to a certain extent he’s trying to disenfranchise not only millions of Pennsylvanians, but millions of voters in Michigan and Wisconsin and Nevada and elsewhere.

“So, Mr President, you were wrong.”

Other Republicans also criticised the president for his actions on Wednesday, as former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said that Mr Trump “undercut his own credibility” by declaring victory before the election had been declared.

While, Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine told Fox News on Wednesday that although he still considers himself a supporter of Mr Trump, he will accept whatever the result is.

He said: “If it ends up being Biden, all of us will accept that, because that’s what we do in this country.”

Over the last 48 hours, Mr Trump Jr has spread unfounded claims of mass voter fraud on Twitter, with the social media platform labelling many of his tweets.

Despite declaring his father the winner in Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon before the result had been announced, Mr Trump Jr later accused the Democrats of  “gamesmanship”. The state is still too close to call, as votes are still being counted.

He also called election results in Georgia “b—t,” in a tweet that was labelled by Twitter: “Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”

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