Trump is said to consider state Governors Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem, as well as Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, along with Arkansas gubernatorial hopeful Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as future GOP politicians, during 'The Lisa Boothe Show' on Monday.
“Well, I think we have a lot of people, we have a lot of young good people. Ron DeSantis is doing a really good job in Florida and I think Josh Hawley has shown some real courage in going after Big Tech, you know they go after him. Josh is terrific,” he said when asked who he thought could lead the Republican party.
The former president also listed Ted Cruz, calling him “really terrific” and saying they were “very close,” despite the fact they “had it out for a while” during a fierce fight over the party’s presidential nomination in 2016.
“And Rand Paul has been great. A lot of people, I mean really a lot of people have been terrific. Sarah Huckabee is going to do great in Arkansas. I think that Kristi Noem has done a terrific job. A lot of very good people, really very good people,” he continued.
Trump added that he believes in the Republican Party talent pool, while noting that the GOP “is stacked.” He criticized a number of GOP senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying the party needs “better and stronger leadership.”
“He can’t rein [sic] his own people. We have the Mitt Romney’s of the world and, you know, the Ben Sasses of the world. These are not good for the Republican party," Trump continued, adding that, "these are not people that are good. He’s got to be able to rein them in.” Trump then offered his opinion that Sasse “is a disaster for the party" and that GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski is “bad news.”
Trump said that earlier he had warned McConnell that Democrats would end the filibuster. “He said, ‘they'll never knock it out. It'll never happen. They'll never do it. They don't want to do it.’ I said, ‘they're going to do it. If they ever get a chance, they'll do it’,” Trump said.
At the recent CPAC performance the former president denied rumors that he would attempt to form a new political party in the US, following the comments of his advisor, Jason Miller, that the former US president is determined to focus on the 2022 Congressional election to reclaim lost Republican seats.
