We have been blessed without any Trump speeches since his Insurrectionist call to arms on January 6th. It must have been tough. There is no celebrity on earth who needs the love of his fans more than Donald Trump. But he’s about to make his big comeback. And it’s going to be lit:
With each speech, we approach the real reason everyone’s here: former President DONALD TRUMP’S Sunday appearance, in which he will formally pronounce himself party kingmaker and take aim at his enemies.
Advisers to Trump say his hit list changes daily. But typically what he says privately, he says on stage. And he’s not just griping about the usual suspects (MITCH MCCONNELL, LIZ CHENEY and NIKKI HALEY).
Three people close to Trump tell me that he’s stewing anew over KEVIN MCCARTHY. It’s become so frequent that his advisers think the House minority leader may be in for a public reprimand. That’s even after the powwow at Mar-a-Lago where McCarthy tried to patch things up after he denounced Trump for the violence on Jan. 6.
The reason for Trump’s displeasure: an emboldened Cheney.
Each time Cheney criticizes Trump from her leadership post as the No. 3 House Republican, he’s reminded that it was McCarthy who pleaded with his conference to keep her on as chair — despite her vote to impeach Trump. The latest trigger came Wednesday, when Cheney said at a press conference that Trump should not lead the party going forward while McCarthy awkwardly stood by.
We’ll see whether McCarthy can get to Trump before his speech Sunday. He seems to already be trying to work his way back into Trump’s good graces. On Thursday, McCarthy took a swipe at Cheney on Fox News, suggesting that she supports cancel culture.
Trump signaled Friday that he’s ready to tangle in McCarthy’s conference, endorsing Rep. ANTHONY GONZALEZ’S (R-Ohio) primary challenger, MAX MILLER, a former aide to the president. Gonzalez voted for impeachment.
Despite the tensions, a Trump aide said he plans to downplay the extent of the rift in his CPAC speech by dismissing the GOP establishment altogether. “The only divide in the Republican Party is between the grassroots and a half a dozen Beltway insiders,” he’s expected to say.
I love all these people talking about “which lane” all the 2024 candidates will be running in — Trump-ultra, Trump-lite etc. There is only one lane. And it belongs to Donald Trump. If he wants it has it. And he wants it. The man lives for revenge. And unless he keels over before then, he will be the 2024 nominee and he will destroy anyone who tries to run against him in a primary.