Donald Trump has added former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany to the list of Republicans he has branded a ‘RINO’ after she advised him to ‘look under the hood’ after and adopt a ‘general election tone’ after he tore into his remaining rival following his New Hampshire win.
McEnany offered the unvarnished and apparently unwelcome advice during live commentary on Fox News, on a night when Trump spent much of his victory speech torching rival Nikki Haley, calling her an ‘imposter’ and grumbling, ‘I don’t get too angry, I get even.’
‘I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox,’ Trump vented online shortly before midnight on Tuesday, at a time when he might have been savoring his 12-point win with a glide-path to the Republican nomination even while battling criminal indictments that could land him in jail.
‘Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!’ Trump groused.
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany encouraged Donald Trump to ‘look under the hood’ and adopt a general election tone, after he torched rival Nikki Haley in his victory speech
McEnany had pointed to potential red flags for Trump on Fox, and raised the prospect that Trump could face challenges in the general election.
‘President Trump, I would go home tonight, I’d go to my victory party, I would celebrate, I’ve made history yet again. But then I’d go home and I’d look under the hood,’ she said.
‘And when you look under the hood of our Fox News voter analysis data, you find that 32 per cent of Republicans say, “We won’t vote for Trump,” she added.
‘So I go home, if I’m Trump, I celebrate. And then I say, ‘I’ve got to unite this party. I’ve got to win independents.” That’s how I beat Biden.’
That came despite McEnany calling Trump the ‘presumptive nominee.’
Trump railed at Haley for vowing to continue her campaing, branding her an ‘imposter’
Other rivals who Trump has attacked, Vivek Ramaswamy (far l) and Sen. Tim Scott (l), have endorsed Trump, as has Ron DeSantis, who Trump branded ‘DeSanctimonious’
Trump sometimes brought McEnany onstage as he campaigned for reelection, as he did at a Make America Great Again campaign rally on October 19, 2020 in Prescott, Arizona
Trump called McEnany (r) a ‘RINO,’ meaning a Republican in Name Only. Pictured in the back is Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified before the House January 6 Committee
‘When you look at the Republican Party seven in ten Nikki Haley voters said, I would not vote for Trump. There was a Des Moines Register poll, 43 per cent said, No, I wouldn’t vote for Trump. If I’m Trump, I sit back and I exclusively focus on the general election, I take the posture of a presumptive nominee. I focus on Number One uniting the party and number two winning the independents, which Nikki Haley won 55 to 39 per cent. That’s what I would do.’
Her advice on tone gave after Trump loaded his victory speech with attacks on Haley.
‘We beat her so badly,’ he said.
‘Ron [DeSantis] beat her also. He came in second and he left. She came in third and she’s still hanging around,’ he complained.
‘In life you can’t let people get away with bulls***,’ he said. ‘You just can’t do that. When I watched her, the fancy dress, it probably wasn’t so I said, what is she doing? We won.’
McEnany was Trump’s last press secretary. She announced her departure days after January 6, and ended up turning in some of her final days remotely.
Her final press briefing consisted of a two-minute statement the day after the Capitol riot.
‘Those who violently besieged our Capitol are the opposite of everything this administration stands for,’ she said, stating that ”those who are working in this building are working to ensure an orderly transition of power.’