Former President Donald Trump Wednesday laid more broad hints about seeking reelection in 2024, commenting during an interview that "you are going to be very happy" about a decision he can't announce officially because of campaign finance laws.
"The campaign finance laws, which are antiquated and stupid, they're corrupt in a way, but they're stupid, don't allow me to tell you that, okay?" Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo after she asked him about his plans.
"Everything has changed Mr. President," Bartiromo told him on her Fox Business show, "Mornings With Maria," while interviewing him by telephone. "I don't think you would be going around the country doing rallies, (if you are) not intending on throwing your hat in the ring again. Mr. President, are you going to run in 2024?"
"If I tell you that a whole host of things happens which are bad," said Trump. "I can't tell you. I can tell you this: I love our country. You are going to be very happy."
He then laughed, shortly.
The comments came during an extensive early morning interview, during which Trump lambasted President Joe Biden for his performance since his inauguration, including on Afghanistan, COVID, China, the border, and more.
Trump is planning a speech in Alabama on Saturday in conjunction with the state Republican Party's summer meeting, and said he's anticipating a huge crowd because "people are desperate for our help."
"They see this man who is president destroying our country," said Trump. "We were energy independent six months ago. Today they are negotiating with OPEC. OPEC just told them no ... I filled up the national oil reserve when oil was cheap. I filled them up for almost nothing ... now they want to use oil that I just bought to bring down prices. My price was $1.87 per gallon. Now it's going to be over $5."
Trump also on Wednesday accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of making a "horrible miscalculation" by pulling 19 Republicans, himself included, to join the Democratic Caucus to vote for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan.
"He reminds me very much of Biden," said Trump. "He wanted it to be bipartisan. People don't care if it's bipartisan. They want good deals. He got 19 people, including himself to vote and to give them a victory. They didn't have a victory for a long time. They were dying at the border, dying in Afghanistan, they were dying all over the place, the Democrats. He wanted to give them a victory."
And as a result, McConnell "should be ashamed of himself," said Trump. "He is a stupid man ... Mitch Mcconnell should be overthrown and overthrown fast."
He also accused McConnell of "hurting our party, very badly," with the 19-person vote on infrastructure.
"Some of (the senators) are friends of mine," said Trump. "Those people have hurt their party very much, hurt their nation. They shouldn't have done it, and they know it."
He also claimed that Biden wants the capital gains tax to go to 43% "to finance the Green New Deal" sought by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
"She is a young woman who knows less about the environment than a five-year-old child," said Trump. "It is putting the tremendous expense on companies not able to compete with China ... they won't be able to compete with China, they won't be able to compete with Europe, because we're going to be so screwed up with the Green New Deal stuff creating energy that costs 25 times more."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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