Former President Donald Trump skipped the third Republican presidential debate Wednesday night – declaring it ‘unwatchable’ to his own rally crowd and blasting his party for pushing ‘weak and ineffective RINOS.’
Trump singled out just two of his GOP rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, but not even bringing them up until deep into his remarks.
‘Do you think we did the right thing by not participating?’ he asked a crowd of supporters.
‘Well listen, I’m standing in front of tens of thousands of people right now and it’s on television. That’s a lot harder than a debate,’ he said.
Still dominating rivals in primary polls, the former president elected not to participate in the Miami smackdown, where Vivek Ramaswamy went compared DeSantis to ‘Cheney in three-inch heels’ and Haley pointed out a series of GOP electoral losses in the Trump era.
As at past events, his rivals spent much of their event going after each other rather than the dominant frontrunner – even when asked directly about him.
Former President Donald Trump mocked his Republican rivals who participated in a Miami presidential debate. He instead spoke to supporters at an outdoor rally
Trump called Haley ‘bird brain’ and called DeSantis ‘Rhonda Sanctimonious,’ and trumpeted a poll that had him leading Joe Biden in swing states (leaving out the one battleground in the New York Times poll where Biden led him – Wisconsin).
‘Stop wasting time and resources trying to push weak and ineffective RINOS,’ Trump complained while his rivals battled among themselves.
Trump spoke before a few thousand supporters at the Ted Hendricks stadium who cheered as he railed against ‘radical left Democrat communists’ and repeated his claims of a ‘stolen’ election.
He mentioned his four criminal indictments that have resulted in 91 counts.
‘They indicted me can you believe it. My father and mother are looking down, how did that happen?’ he said.
‘Even that stupid trial going on in New York,’ Trump said, on a day daughter Ivanka Trump took the stand in his $250 million fraud trial.
Trump, who regularly rails about 2020, was briefly nostalgic about his 2016 stunning win, which occurred on November 8 of that year.
He saved his angriest rhetoric for President Biden and the Democrats.
Trump once again vowed to overhaul the Justice Department and use executive power to go after his rivals.
‘I will totally obliterate the Deep State,’ he vowed. ‘We will start by exposing every last crime committed by crooked Joe Biden because now that he indicted me we’re allowed to look at him,’ he said, on a day House Republicans subpoenaed Hunter Biden and James Biden.
Trump has repeatedly cast the debates as a B-list affair – although rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley set to throw a few barbs at him and at each other.
Also onstage are entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott, and Chris Christie.
They were the candidates who met the donor and polling criteria to take part in the third debate and who signed the loyalty pledge required to debate.
Trump leads DeSantis by 44 per cent in the latest CNN national poll, with Haley drawing 10 per cent.
Trump’s son Don Jr. helped warm up the crowd, on a day his sister Ivanka testified at Trump’s New York fraud trial.
Trump blasted ‘vicious opponents’ and vowed to go after President Biden if elected. ‘Now that he indicted me, we’re allowed to look at him,’ he said
Trump rallied with supporters while his rivals debated
Comedian Roseanne Barr said there were ‘captives in our country whose minds are stolen by this terrible regime’
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancee of Donald Trump Jr. gave warm-up remarks
Donald Trump Jr. tore into ‘antisemites chanting for genocide at some of the finest universities’ in the country
Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy, although he wasn’t present for the Capitol riot
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
