Former President Trump is a guy on a mission — to reclaim the White House in November — and he has no time for Republicans who stand in his way, he said in Florida on Tuesday.
The Republican presumptive nominee spoke with media after casting his ballot in the Florida primary election, which he eventually won. During the interview, Trump was asked about his former running mate and vice president, Mike Pence, and whether Pence’s refusal to endorse him against President Biden hurt him.
“Oh, I couldn’t care less,” Trump told reporters. “I could care less. We need patriots. We need strong people in our country. “Our country is rapidly deteriorating.
He went on to say, “Millions of individuals are crossing the border, coming from jails, prisons, mental facilities, and insane asylum terrorists. We need strong people in this country. “We don’t need weak people.”
Pence, who briefly ran for president in the 2024 cycle, and Trump have had a strained relationship since the 2020 presidential election, with the former vice president announcing just last week that he would not endorse his former running mate.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence stated in an interview with “The Story.”
“I am tremendously proud of our administration’s record. “It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous and secure, and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world,” he continued. “What I’m going to spend the rest of the year doing is discussing what we should be for. And that is the wide mainstream conservative program that has characterized our party and kept America strong, prosperous, and free.”
Trump, the sole Republican remaining in the presidential primary after Nikki Haley stopped her candidacy earlier this month, was proclaimed the winner of the Florida primary election late Tuesday evening.
The statements were similar to those made by Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno, who won his primary race to be his party’s nominee for U.S. Senate on Tuesday when he asked Republicans to rally behind Trump, regardless of whether they disapproved of his antics.
“I am so sick of Republicans that will say ‘I support President Trump’s policies, but I don’t like the man,'” Moreno spoke, eliciting a reaction from the audience. “This is a good guy. “This is a wonderful American.”
He went on to say, “This man gets up every day and fights for us, for this country. He loves this country more than any other leader in its history.”
Moreno, whom Trump endorsed in the race, defeated Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan in the Republican primary on Tuesday. In November, he will face Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who is serving his third term.
Since the Republican presidential primary has become a one-man contest, Trump supporters are encouraging others in the party to back the former president as the GOP seeks to retake the White House and a majority in the United States Senate.
Republicans are undoubtedly hoping to put aside their differences in order to win, as Biden remains historically unpopular, immigration across the US-Mexico border continues to set new crossing records, and Americans are forced to pay higher prices due to crippling inflation.