This morning, Rupert Murdoch's
New York
Post did not have the former president's
announcement last night in the headline.
The story was relegated to page
26 of the paper
with a small banner
at the bottom of the front page,
which simply read
Florida Man Makes Announcement,
which was likely a blow
to the ego of the former president.
But Mr.
Trump's campaign also took a blow
when this man, Wall Street
billionaire Steven Schwarzman,
said he won't back another Trump run.
And another big donor, hedge fund
CEO Ken
Griffin, called the former
president, quote, a three time loser.
Then there's former Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo,
apparently reacting to last night's
speech.
He tweeted,
We need more seriousness, less
noise and leaders who are looking forward
not staring in the rearview
mirror, claiming victimhood.
The editors of the conservative
National Review,
meantime, had a one word
take on the former president.
No period to talk about it.
CNN political commentator David Urban,
one time campaign
adviser to the former president.
David, so you know the former president.
Well, he's
obviously defied
conventional political wisdom
many, many times before.
Do you think these defections
will have an impact
Anderson, they definitely have an impact.
Whether it's you know,
whether it's dispositive or not
is still to be determined.
You know, a lot of people in America,
a lot of people who tend Trump
rallies, don't know who
Steve Schwarzman is or Ken Griffin or
you know, I saw today
Ron Lauder also said,
you know, Trump's longtime friend,
college friend
Ron Lauter, billionaire,
said he's
not going to support Trump either.
So so I don't think people who are,
you know,
going to rallies in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania, much care
what those folks think.
And I think it's
you know, it's important
for a wide variety of reasons
in terms of funding
and and signaling,
you know, who they're going to support.
But I think the question is one
that Senator
Lummis asked today or yesterday
when she was asked
if she's going to support Donald Trump,
and she said
the correct question is,
who is the current leader
of the Republican Party?
And in her view and in many, it's
it's currently
it's Ron DeSantis of Florida.
And so I think that's
what's up for debate
at this current point in time
until other folks like
you know, the vice president.
We're going to hear from here shortly
or my West Point
classmate, Mike Pompeo,
get into the race.
I think that's the question.
You know,
who's currently leading the party
is I mean, is Ron DeSantis,
in your opinion, the leader?
I mean, he's not.
Is he a national enough
figure at this point to
to be considered the leader
of the Republican Party?
I think look, you remember that
remember the opening scene
from Peyton
where George Scott's up there and says,
America, Americans love a winner.
Right.
So, Ron,
DeSantis was a big winner
last Tuesday night. Right.
And in the state of Florida
and nationally, that resonated.
And I think, you know,
he built a coalition
that, if replicated,
will you know, carry
the GOP to victory nationwide.
And so I think he's
the current national leader of the party.
I do right now.
DeSantis declined
to weigh in on the brewing divide,
I guess you could
say, among Republicans over
who represents the future of the party.
I just want to play what he said
earlier today.
We just finished this election.
Okay.
People just need to chill out
a little bit on some of this stuff.
I mean, seriously,
we just ran an election
we have this Georgia runoff coming,
which is very important for Republicans
to win that Georgia runoff.
I mean, I know around the country,
Florida was kind of
the biggest bright spot.
It was not so bright
in many other parts of the country.
It was a it was
it was a substandard
performance given the dynamics
that are at play.
I mean, it's interesting,
DeSantis telling people to chill out,
focus on Georgia.
Trump
basically doing the opposite,
although Trump mentioned,
you know, Herschel Walker
and I think is fundraising off him.
I'm not sure how much that money
will actually go to Herschel Walker
if he isn't, in fact,
raising money for him.
But I mean, does it seems like DeSantis
certainly is really
I mean,
you got to feel pretty comfortable
in order to tell people to chill out.
Yeah.
Listen, I mean, he is right.
I think that
the kind of the
The Post
The New York Post article you mentioned
says like 720 days
till the next election or what,
you know, kind of tongue in cheek.
But there's a long way to go between here
and there.
And I think
people do need to exhale
a little bit here.
And let's just
see what's going to happen
in the coming months.
And I think that,
you know, Ron
DeSantis is right to say that when you're
when you're the lead dog,
you can kind of say that. Right.
And it's easy for him to do.
Yeah.
Well,
what you heard from from people
about the former president's announcement
last night
in the wake of it,
I mean, were people underwhelmed,
excited Yeah.
So, yeah,
so interestingly,
I was at the Republican
Governors Association meeting in Orlando
last night
with a lot of
a lot of governors
and a lot of supporters,
a lot of Republicans
their top donors
from around the United States.
And and and kind of the you know, the
the chattering class.
And nobody was particularly
paying attention, you know,
the 9:00
hour kind of came and went
and people were asking,
why did Trump actually announce tonight?
Did he do it? What did he say?
Right.
So people had kind of moved on at least.
And that and that organization
where they are focusing on
you know, the governors, that one, right.
So Brian Kemp was there and,
you know,
Governor Sununu was there a lot
a lot of people who kind of
stood on their own, Mike DeWine.
Right.
People who
who soared without being,
you know, tagged
with the former president
or by the former president.
Interesting.
David Urban in Kentucky, as always.
Thanks, David.