Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter has dismissed former President Donald Trump as a viable Republican leader, describing him as a “jacka** RINO” and insisting that “he’s so done.”
Trump has faced growing opposition from conservative media and some prominent Republicans in the aftermath of the 2022 midterms. Many of the candidates Trump endorsed failed to win in key battleground states in a year when Republicans were projected to easily defeat Democrats. Instead, the GOP failed to take control of the Senate, lost several high-profile governor races and only won the House by the slimmest of margins.
Coulter, who was previously a staunch supporter of the former president, has readily criticized Trump since he was still serving in the White House. The right-wing pundit’s criticism has continued in the wake of the midterms earlier this month.
“Let’s do it issue by issue, Trump versus [Republican Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis,” Coulter said in a recent video discussion on her Substack, which she posted a portion of to Twitter on Saturday. The conservative commentator said that Trump backed COVID-19 lockdowns, whereas DeSantis kept his state open.
She cheered DeSantis for opposing vaccine mandates as well as mask mandates. “DeSantis is the true right-winger, Trump is the jacka** RINO,” Coulter said, using the acronym meaning “Republican in name only” to describe the former president.
Coulter went on to say that “he’s so done,” referring to Trump. “He is on his last legs.” She also said that “there are so few Trump diehards,” contending that the former president won’t be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024.
While many prominent conservatives have turned against Trump, or softened their support for him in the wake of the midterms, some of his allies have suggested this won’t stop him. They have compared the situation to 2016, when the GOP establishment was largely opposed to Trump before he pulled off win after win in the party’s presidential primaries—ultimately becoming the party’s nominee.
Coulter, however, rejected this assessment in a Sunday morning email to Newsweek.
“They’ve been saying, ‘It’s 2016, again!’ through three losing election cycles. No, it’s 2012, again. That’s when Trump tried to run for president by activating the crazies, crashed and burned,” Coulter told Newsweek. “2016 was the exception, when—instead of Birtherism or a stolen election—he ran on my book, Adios, America! Then he blew off his promises on immigration, and went right back to his losing streak.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s press representatives for comment.
Trump, in 2012, considered launching a GOP presidential campaign as he strongly opposed former Democratic President Barack Obama. However, he eventually chose to forego the idea, saying he preferred to remain in the private sector.
Coulter was one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters in 2016. She wrote a book entitled In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! However, she began to turn against the former president after his promise to build a southern border wall in a bid to prevent undocumented immigration failed to materialize.
The former president has faced further criticism after he had dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort home with rapper and fashion designer Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes last Tuesday. West, who is Black, has recently drawn substantial backlash for his antisemitic comments and for wearing a White Lives Matter T-shirt at a fashion show.
The rapper has announced his intention to run for president in 2024, as has Trump. After the meeting with the former president, West said he asked Trump to be his running mate. Meanwhile, many prominent GOP officials have blasted Trump for meeting with Fuentes, who has long faced condemnation from Democrats and Republicans over his antisemitic and white supremacist views. Trump contends that he didn’t know who Fuentes was.
Meanwhile, as Coulter alluded to, DeSantis continues to be touted as a strong Republican alternative to Trump. While many of Trump’s preferred candidates lost in the midterm, the Florida governor won reelection with a nearly 20-point margin, with Republicans performing exceptionally well in the state. Although DeSantis has not announced a 2024 presidential campaign, several polls have already shown him leading Trump for the GOP nomination in the wake of the November 8 election.
The post Right-Wing Pundit Ann Coulter Dismisses ‘RINO’ Trump, Says ‘He’s So Done’ appeared first on Newsweek.
