Former President Donald Trump insulted a growing field of Republican rivals during town hall appearance hosted by Sean Hannity – even appearing to mock a rival who is polling at less than 1 percent with a name suggesting he has a disability.
Trump used the format, where Hannity announced at the top that he wasn’t interested in debating the candidate, to bash the GOP field, while also commenting on President Joe Biden’s fall and claiming he was the victim of election interference.
Asked about facing a field that could grow to nine, Trump said, ‘That’s a good thing, isn’t it’ – reflecting a school that he could benefit as lower-polling candidates attack each other as they did in 2016. Both his targets have gone after Trump over January 6.
‘I don’t think it matters. I don’t know why people are doing it. They’re at 1%. Some are at zero,’ Trump said before a friendly live studio audience in Clive, Iowa.
Former President Donald Trump blasted former New Jersey Gov. Christ Christie for his polls, and called former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ‘Ada Hutchinson’
Then he went after former New Jersey Gov. Christ Christie, who has turned Trump critic and is expected to jump into the race in days.
‘Christie Christie, he was at 6% in New Jersey. Which is, I love New Jersey. But 6% approval rating in New Jersey. What’s the purpose? And he’s he’s polling at zero. And others are,’ Trump said. (Christie is at 1 per cent in the RealClearPolitics average.
‘I call him Ada Hutchinson. I don’t call him Asa, I call him Ada Hutchinson, for some reason for certain reasons, but this guy nobody knows who the hell he is.’
Trump didn’t elaborate, but ADA is the acronym for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
‘You know it’s fine but I don’t understand what they’re doing. No, maybe there’s something wrong but when you’re 1% or less, you know what percent of this is 1% with an arrow pointing left, there’s one guy who’s at zero with an arrow pointing left, that means he’s less than zero,’ Trump joked.
Trump at that point only alluded to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he previously called ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ and tussled over a comment by DeSantis about changing a culture of losing and said only he could win and serve two terms.
Trump’s attack on Hutchinson was notable in part because of his relatively low poll performance.
Hutchinson, a former prosecutor, governor, and Bill Clinton impeachment manager, has been one of the few Republican candidates to go after Trump directly on January 6. He has said Trump ‘led us astray’ and ‘undermined the fabric of our democracy.’
Christie, likewise, has blamed Trump for the attack on the Capitol after previously advising him.
Trump attacked Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Ron DeSantis during a ‘town hall’ style appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News
‘You know, I really go after one who’s second. And I think the one who’s second is going down so much and so rapidly that I don’t think he’s going to be second that much longer. I think he’s gonna be third or fourth. He had a very bad day, and he got very angry at the press. You’re not allowed to get angry at the press. At the fake news he got angry,’ Trump said.
That was an allusion to how Trump regularly attacked the media as president and as a candidate.
At one point Hannity mentioned criticism from fellow Republicans that Trump might ‘just tone it down a hair, stop a little of the name calling.’ That brought a round of boos from the crowd.
Trump’s attacks came after he began Thursday going after the expanding presidential field – poking fun at DeSantis for his shifting stance on how to pronounce his own name and insulting Christie over his weight.
Trump issued the insults on his Truth Social platform following reports that Christie, the former New Jersey governor, would soon jump into the race.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is also expected to announce his entry within days.
The moves establish a crowded field where once again Trump rivals are set to expend considerably energy taking on each other.
Trump has been training most of his fire on DeSantis, as he did last night with a post that pointed to repeated changes in how DeSantis pronounces his last name. He pronounced it ‘dee-Santis’ during the video announcing his campaign, then pronounced it ‘da-Santis’ during interviews on Fox News, keeping up a pattern that goes back years.
Former President Donald Trump
‘Have you heard that “Rob” DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again,’ Trump wrote, once again calling his rival ‘Rob’ for unexplained reasons.
‘He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis. Actually, I like “Da” better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn’t mind, DeSanctimonious?’
The last line referenced the tag that Trump usually uses on his rival, who trails him in the polls but is campaigning across Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina this week.
Trump also reposted an attack on Christie, who endorsed Trump in 2016 and for a time ran his presidential transition before becoming a Trump critic at the end of his presidency.
It was a post by longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone. Trump, days before leaving office, commuted Stone’s 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress.
Trump reposted an attack on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, days before Christie is set to jump into the presidential contest
Trump reposted an image by longtime advisor Roger Stone. The image appeared to be doctored to make Christie look larger, AFP reported by examining the original imagae
DeSantis, seen here with wife Casey DeSantis, has toggled between pronouncing his name ‘Dee-Santis’ and ‘Da-Santis’
Stone posted an image that appears to have been modified showing an image of a large Christie, who has struggled with his weight. ‘@ChrisChristie needs to run. Not for President. He just needs to run,’ Stone wrote. Trump reposted the missive without comment.
An AFP reporter who examined the original image noted that material from the background in the original Reuters photo was not visible in the one Stone posted, indicating it was ‘doctored.’
His attacks come after DeSantis, who is campaigning in Iowa Thursday, called to ‘dispense with the culture of losing that’s infected the Republican Party,’ referencing underperformance at the national level and Trump’s 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
In New Hampshire on Thursday, DeSantis said leadership was ‘not entertainment’ and ‘not about building a brand,’ in another possible ding at Trump.
The growing Republican field has Trump critics fearing the former president’s base will hold while rivals tear each other apart.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, himself a possible contender, predicts there won’t be such a replay, and urged candidates to jump out of the race if they underperform.
‘Come November or December of this year, if you’re not polling well get your butt out of this race, let’s narrow it down to a couple candidates,’ he told Fox News on Thursday. ‘That’s more fair to the process,’ he said.
Former President Donald Trump appeared in a Fox News town hall on Thursday evening. He shrugged off revelations that he was recorded admitting he knew he had classified documents
Trump spent Thursday in Iowa, returning to the state for the first time since Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 race. He ended the day with an interview with Sean Hannity
