Former President Donald Trump slammed his former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, calling her a RINO (Republican in name only) for giving him advice on Fox News on how he can ‘look under the hood’ and better his chances of winning the general election.
“I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox. Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!” he wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
Ms. McEnany, a Fox News host, was speaking on the network after its coverage of the New Hampshire primary Tuesday. She suggested the former president adopt “a general election tone.”
“I would suggest that adopting a general election tone is what you do at this point. And here’s why I say this: This was actually a fairly good night for Joe Biden. When you look at our voter analysis, only 10% said, ‘I would not vote for Joe Biden if he’s the nominee,’” she said. “He won a plurality of voters who said he was too old; he won a majority of voters who were upset about the Gaza war.”
She said Mr. Trump should “sit back [and] exclusively focus on the general election.”
She added, “I take the posture of a presumptive nominee. I focus on number one, uniting the party, and number two, winning the independents, which Nikki Haley won 55 to 39%. That’s what I would do.”
Mr. Trump has attacked Ms. McEnany before, calling her “Milktoast McEnany” after she said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was closing in on him in the polls in May.
Mr. Trump won New Hampshire by 11 points over Ms. Haley. He also came in first in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month, followed by Mr. DeSantis, who dropped out of the race after the results, with Ms. Haley placing third.
Mr. Trump and Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, are the two remaining GOP presidential candidate hopefuls heading to the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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