Trump Rips into DeSantis, Kicks Off 2024 Campaign; Lindell Loses RNC Vote: A Closer Look

-Donald Trump kicked off his

2024

presidential bid with a series of

campaign

stops in key primary states and attacks on his main rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And yet, even as Trump presses forward with a

2024

bid that no one but his die-hard fans seems to want, everyone who really has the power to stop him, whether it's his Republican colleagues or federal prosecutors, has refused to take action. , hoping that he will magically disappear, just like they did in 2016. To learn more about this, it's time for "A Closer Look." The Republican Party now faces a reckoning over its future after its disastrous results in three consecutive national elections, which have left the party weak, fractured and directionless.

And who better to help with that calculation than MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The Republican National Committee pledged to work with Lindell and keep him involved in party leadership after Lindell ran to become RNC chair. Sadly, Lindell lost that election on Friday to incumbent President Ronna McDaniel. Or so they say. And I hope I don't sound too much like Mike Lindell when I say this, but I think he only lost because China, Hugo Chavez, the CIA, and Dominion teamed up to steal the election from him! And he may be ahead now, but sometimes, slow and steady, he wins the race!

Like in that story, the tortoise and the hare! I think... I think I sounded a little like him in the end. Still, Lindell lost, but he made it clear that he is still expected to be closely involved with the Republican Party's leadership after a poll of Republican

vote

rs showed that she was his favorite to take over the Republican National Committee. -We need to hold the RNC responsible. They said, "I'll work with Mike Lindell. I can't wait to work with Mike Lindell." And Ronna said that she would work, that he would do a grassroots tour. But she also said: I'm

look

ing forward to working with Mike Lindell.

Steve, what do you do? What do you think I've been working on for two years? So this is a wake up call for them. You better wake up. You better get that phone call. -Okay, some advice, Mike. You need to be a little quieter or you won't hear when the phone rings. I mean, just

look

at all these missed calls. -Let's investigate it. What are they hiding, Steve? What are they hiding? They are running out of direction... ...where they won't be able to continue with these dumps or it will be too obvious. Open it up and look good there.

They are all computers. They get horizontal, everyone. -And just to show that he was serious about keeping Lindell involved at the highest levels of the Republican Party, McDaniel made a spectacle of inviting him on stage, along with another fellow candidate, former Trump

campaign

lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, after McDaniel won, even calling Lindell a leader of the Republican Party. -Thank you. We have to get Mike and Harmeet here. Mike and Harmeet, could you please come up? Thank you for the race you ran, for the leaders you are in our party. We are very grateful for you. We need all of us.

We hear you, bases. We know. We listen to Harmeet. We listen to Mike Lindell. But with us united and all together, Democrats will listen to us in 2024, when we take back the White House and the Senate. -I mean, that's a dream team right there. Ronna McDaniel, who oversaw three consecutive losses in 2018, 2020 and 22, Harmeet Dhillon, legal counsel for Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and famous pillow salesman, had her phone confiscated by the FBI at a Hardee's drive-thru, a real thing. Something real that happened. This is a very real headline. In fact, the feds dress up the self-service menu. It was very strange to everyone who drove before Lindell. "Hey, are you dressed like a poster?" "Keep driving." No one expects to lose a phone in a drive-thru.

There is no video of it, but we do have audio of Lindell's order after the seizure. Should I tell him? That was me, guys. He did both voices. Now, in case he's forgotten the details of this story, Lindell had his phone confiscated as part of an FBI investigation into a Republican county clerk in Colorado who tampered with voting equipment to investigate nonexistent

vote

r fraud. . And despite that, Trump remains friends with him, and the Republican Party chairman says he should participate in the party's leadership. Honestly, I can't think of any Democratic equivalent to this. Imagine if Joe Biden brought a guy who sells compression socks on stage and claimed that the moon was actually just a projection to distract people. "Alright everyone, I'd like to introduce you to MySock CEO Rick Kordell.

Great guy, great patriot who makes great socks and says the moon isn't real." "But we have room for a lot of ideas within the Democratic Party. What is that? What is that, Rick? Now, okay. You're telling me that Google Maps is an invention of the lizard people, and that these lizard people are using to coordinate an attack. That's great, Rick. That's why I don't just wander around until someone tells me where to go." So that's the position the Republican Party finds itself in. Everyone wants to pretend that Trump, his gang, and his weirdos are done for, but they also don't believe they have a future without them.

For example, on the one hand, they continue to insist over and over again that Trump is a thing of the past and that he cannot win a general election. -Donald Trump kept saying, we are going to win so much that we will get tired of winning. I'm tired of losing. I mean, it's all he's ever done. -Look, I don't think he can win in '20, in November of '24. -Trump is the past. He is fading fast. He is a proven loser. He cost us the House in '18. He cost us the White House in '20. he cost us the Senate again and again.

And I think we all know that, and I think we're overcoming Trump. -Does Trump win? I hope so. I love the boy. And a week ago, he would have said definitely. But after how he played out last night, I don't know now. -I have said time and again that he cannot win a general election. And that's not speculation. That's based on the polls I was aware of before the 2020 election and what we saw actually happen in the 2020 election. And since then the situation has only gotten worse. Then add to that what he saw happen in 2022, and I think Republicans are recognizing that. -Sure, Chris Christie, maybe you said it over and over again, but that was after you said over and over again that he should be president and he should be re-elected.

You were one of the first elected Republicans to support him in 2016. You helped him prepare for his debates in 2020. You even stood behind him at press conferences in 2016, as a Golden Globes presenter who had just presented him with an award and he forgot. to get out of the shot. "Chris, get off the stage! Chris! Get off... Get off the stage!" In fact, the parallels between how the Republican Party treats Trump now and how they treated him in 2016 are quite alarming. You may remember the exact same thing happened back then. Republicans continued to insist that there was no way Trump could gain enough support to win the primary, that there was a limit to how much he would lose once the party united around an alternative, and that he would definitely be crushed in a general election. -What we are seeing is a feeling that the party is not going to unite around Donald Trump if he is the candidate. -If the Republican Party becomes the party of David Duke, Donald Trump, I'm out. -Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his Republican colleagues that they can take down Trump "like a hot rock." -It has a high floor and a low ceiling, in my opinion.

I mean, Donald Trump has proven himself capable of getting 25% to 30%. -Donald has a hard ceiling of 35% to 40%. -There is a ceiling that he cannot exceed, and that ceiling would not be 50%. -The 50% ceiling sounds like a feature real estate mogul Donald Trump would try to sell when you complain that half the ceiling is missing. "You're complaining. You're complaining about the rain pouring into your apartment. But let me tell you, when it's sunny, you'll thank me for this 50% deal. Everyone loves a 50% roof." Remember when everyone thought Trump had a roof, even though he literally started his campaign at the top of an escalator?

I mean, he looks at that guy. It's really hard to believe now that he was headed to the most powerful office in the world. It looks like he's heading to Claire's house to get her ears pierced. "Guys, go ahead. See you at chess, gang." This is what continues to happen with Trump. Republicans just assume that he's done, that someone else will defeat him, but no one really does. And it's happening again right now, as Trump begins his 2024 campaign. In a new article about the Republican Party's refusal to directly confront Trump, a Republican consultant said... Another Republican, who ran Marco Rubio's campaign in 2016 said… It doesn't even have to be a brick that heavy.

If Donald Trump were really in the water, I'm pretty sure the only thing he would do is throw a rock at it to sink it. You could even throw a pillow at it, although not a MyPillow. That thing is probably heavier. It's like 50 bricks. You try to sleep on one of those, immediately... -Wake up! -And it's not just… I mean, it should be an alarm on your phone. Just say. Put it on Lindell in the morning. You're going to wake up. It's not just about Republicans. Even prosecutors are betting on Trump. A new book has revealed that days before Trump... ...because Trump's other scandals...

Everyone is waiting for someone else to do it. It's like when you're at a family party and Aunt Janet drinks too many gin and tonics and everyone knows it and you're just waiting for someone else to step in and tell her to put down the glass, but then no one does and she ends up telling the whole family about it. exact time and place she conceived her cousin. "Your Uncle Stu wasn't exactly a romantic. We were at a Motel 6 in Niagara Falls, but they didn't have any rooms, so we went back to the van. And nine months later, boom!

Happy birthday, Kayleigh." "So I... said something." That's how we got to where we are now with Trump, a guy who fomented a coup to overthrow American democracy, making official campaign stops in early primary states. Even his prosecutors and his Republican colleagues just sit back and wait for someone else to stop him. The parallels to 2016 are so disturbing that we're even making Trump make the same silly sound effects he did during his first campaign, like when he told this random story in New Hampshire where he couldn't even follow him about be in the Air Force. One. -So, we're landing.

We're getting 700. I say, "So, Captain." I say, sure, okay. And so on 600, 500, 400. Then it goes to 300. So now we're 300 more feet, which is nothing. and "Captain, we're okay, right?" "Yes. Yes, sir." And suddenly, 200, 100. I just close my eyes. Bing, bing, boom. It landed perfect. -Wait, that. That sounds very familiar. Oh, God, no. No, it can't be happening again. -Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. -Don't you see what's happening?! Donald Trump has created a time loop. We are all being sucked back in. The year 2016. -Bing, bing, bong, bong, bing, bing, bing, bing. -2016. They better not make me wear a suit again.

Check it out. Look at that beautiful baby. Trump is up there, as if he never incited a coup or oversaw one of the most disastrous and chaotic presidencies in American history. He's even taking shots freely at his main rival, Ron DeSantis. No one in the Republican Party seems to care. In fact, Trump spent the entire weekend going after DeSantis, calling him disloyal if he fled while he was on his campaign plane flying from stop to stop. -So, Ron wouldn't have been governor if it weren't for me, and he's fine. And number one, he wouldn't have gotten the nomination.

And number two, he would not have defeated his Democratic opponent. So when I hear that he might run, I find it very disloyal. But it's not about loyalty, but for me it is. It's always about loyalty, but for a lot of people. -Okay, first of all, how excited we are to see Trump again giving press conferences in places where we can barely hear him. You have to talk, friend. I can't believe he's saying this, but take a cue from Mike Lindell. Also, do you think Trump's insults are bad now? Wait until you see that photo of DeSantis in his fancy white boots.

It is a real image. Can you imagine what Trump will say once he sees that photo of the DeSantis? "You know, it's not fair. A lot of people are sitting around stealing those fancy little boots from the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. And he should give them back. It's not nice. Those poor cheerleaders, they have nothing to wear right now. They have to cheer." bare feet, how sad." At many points there were so many people who had the power to stop Trump and make sure we didn't have to live this nightmare again. On the one hand, Republicans could have condemned him during hisimpeachment and disqualify him from office.

Instead, they're just sitting back, silently waiting for a strategy that failed in 2016 to magically disappear. If Republicans don't confront Trump directly, he may very well blow them away like he did in 2016. And if he does, he'll sound like this . -Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. -This has been "A

closer

look."