RICHMOND, Virginia — Former President Donald Trump spent an hour on The John Fredericks Show for a wide-ranging exclusive interview also broadcast on Real America’s Voice Wednesday. Trump blasted enemies ranging from intelligence community leaders to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and criticized President Joe Biden for a decision to leave U.S. military equipment behind in Afghanistan.
“I looked at that equipment that’s left, where you have literally thousands, hundreds of thousands of guns left behind, and by the way, these are weapons that are better than what we have. They’re newer. And the planes, and just from a common sense standpoint, why wouldn’t you fly the planes out,” Trump said. “Just get some people, bring them in, an let them make their journey back to this country. Go through Pakistan, go anyways you want to go, and fly all of that billions of dollars worth of equipment out. It’s the most incompetent thing I’ve ever seen.”
Trump criticized the 19 GOP senators who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but had special words for specific GOP legislators who criticized Trump’s claims of a fraudulent election after he supported them in their campaigns for re-election.
“They didn’t fight for the election,” he said.
McConnell blasted Trump in the wake of the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot and supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Trump said McConnell deserves the blame for GOP losses in the Senate races in Georgia.
“Too bad I didn’t primary him in Kentucky,” Trump said.
He said Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) is a “disaster.” He said Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) was “one of the worst” and “a nasty little guy.” He also criticized former Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump said, “And we’re very disappointed, obviously, in Mike Pence, because he should have sent it back to the [state] legislatures, which are all now up in arms.”
Fox News reported in February that Pence felt betrayed by Trump’s lack of concern for his safety during the January 6 riot at the Capitol with Pence inside.
Trump also mentioned Virginia’s gubernatorial election.
“Be careful, you know the elections coming up with California, Virginia. You know how they cheat in elections. Virginia governor’s election, you better watch it,” he said. “A couple of big elections coming up, in areas that are very, very suspect. You have a close race in Virginia, but it’s not close if they cheat.”
Trump said he was working with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) to support candidates for the 2022 House of Representative’s midterms.
Fredericks tried to get a hint of the former president’s future presidential aspirations by asking how many seats the Republicans needed to retake to inspire Trump to run again.
“I actually think it works both ways. If we didn’t win, I’m not sure that my chances wouldn’t be enhanced in a certain way, and if we do win, they will give me no credit whatsoever,” he said,
In an interview on War Room immediately after speaking with Trump, Fredericks said, “The signal that he sent today is, ‘I’m running in 2024 to save America. And he said, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m going to see, what’s going to go on.'”
Trump issued dire warnings about the direction of the country before that election.
He asked, “Are we going to have a country left in three years? If it keeps going like this, John, you’re not going to have a country left.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
John Fredericks is the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Virginia Star.
He is also a Trump 2020 delegate and the chairman of the Trump Virginia Delegation.
