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- Outgoing GOP Sen. Pat Toomey says Trump’s influence over the Republican Party is waning.
- Toomey attributed Trump’s weakened influence to the GOP’s bad midterm performance.
- Toomey also said it might have to do with Trump’s “unbelievably terrible” 2024 campaign rollout.
Outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey says former President Donald Trump’s hold on the Republican Party is finally waning.
“The election outcome from last month I think dramatically accelerates the waning. And frankly, his unbelievably terrible rollout of his election campaign is also not helping him,” Toomey said on CNN on Sunday.
The outgoing Republican senator added that he thought Trump’s influence was already declining, albeit “not as quickly” as he hoped it would. He added that it is a sign of Trump’s weakness that other Republican candidates are expressing an intention to run even after Trump announced his campaign.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, for one, has expressed interest in a presidential bid of his own.
—CNN (@CNN) December 18, 2022
“In my travels after the election around Pennsylvania, I’ve heard from many, many formerly very pro-Trump voters that they think it’s time for our party to move on,” Toomey said.
Toomey also called Trump out during his Senate farewell speech on December 15, warning his GOP colleagues that the party “can’t be about or beholden to any one man.”
“We’re much bigger than that. Our party is much bigger than that,” Toomey said.
“And I hope we resist the temptation to adopt the protectionist nativist isolationist redistributive policies that some are suggesting we embrace,” he added.
Trump’s losing friends and allies after announcing his 2024 bid
Ever since announcing his 2024 campaign in November, Trump has raged against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a popular, would-be rival in the next election.
He launched a sale of non-fungible tokens which were even mocked by Trump loyalist Steve Bannon. However, Trump might not be doing so badly for himself — Coin Desk reported on Friday that the 45,000 cards were already sold on that day, and may have raked in over a million dollars for Trump.
Toomey made the comments on the same day that former GOP congressman Carlos Curbelo told MSNBC he thinks Trump is in “deep trouble” due to a potential criminal referral from the House Select Committee for the Justice Department to prosecute Trump over the Capitol riot.
The January 6 panel is set to vote on the referral on Monday, per NPR.
“Donald Trump is in deep trouble. I don’t think anything can rescue him. I do think that he can use these criminal referrals as a way to rally his base, but the end is near for Donald Trump,” Curbelo told MSNBC. “His next bankruptcy is looming, you can see it coming on the horizon, and I don’t even think this would save him.”
Representatives for Toomey and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
