Donald Trump taunted the party that just named him its presidential nominee at a private donor luncheon on Thursday, just hours before formally accepting the nomination,
Politico reports.
Trump told the group of 300 top donors that the Republican National Committee wanted him to sign a loyalty pledge because it was afraid he would run as an independent if he lost the nomination.
"I was the only one who wasn't going to sign the pledge, and [RNC Chairman] Reince [Priebus] is going crazy because he thought I was going to run independent, and if I ran independent I promise you the Republicans would have had zero chance, OK?" Trump said to laughter from the audience. "The independents would beat the Republicans!"
Priebus was calling every day "asking me to sign the pledge," Trump said. "And so I said, 'You know what, I'll sign, but only if everyone else does.' And so I did, and everybody else did. … The pledge was only because of me."
Trump also taunted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was booed at Wednesday's convention when he failed to endorse Trump in his primetime speech.
"Honestly, it could have been a career-ending thing, what he did," Trump said. "He got booed out. His Texas delegation was expecting him to and really thought he was going to endorse. Honestly, I don’t care."
Trump didn't hold back on Ohio Gov. John Kasich, either, who declined to endorse his former rival and even refused to attend the convention even though it is in his home state.
"If I got beaten as bad as Kasich got beaten by me, I wouldn’t support him either," Trump is reported to have said.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in attendance, and got some ribbing from Trump as well. Trump mentioned that Perry at one point called him a cancer on the party, then turned around and endorsed him.
"And then we ran and he did very well, but then … all of a sudden I got a call and the governor said, ‘What you’ve got is a movement.' And I said, ‘How do you pivot from 'I don't like Donald Trump'?'" he said.
Trump also said he will add more to his list of potential list of Supreme Court appointees in the near future.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.