'Painful': Conservatives, Ex-Aides Trash Trump's 'Low Energy' 2024 Announcement
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Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 kickoff speech received less-than-stellar reviews ― and not just from his critics on the left. Many on the right panned the speech with a callback to the phrase Trump used to dispatch former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016: “low energy.”
In The Washington Post, conservative attorney George Conway ― husband to Trump insider Kellyanne Conway ― called Trump’s 2024 campaign an effort to protect himself from prosecution and predicted it would fail.
“Too many Americans would crawl on broken glass to vote against him, no matter who his general election opponent may be,” he wrote. “They have seen enough.”
The National Review, the conservative publication that has repeatedly flip-flopped on Trump, published an editorial with a one-word headline: “No.” The editors slammed his delusions, lies and conspiracy theories, and called the announcement “an invitation to double down on the outrages and failures of the last several years that Republicans should reject without hesitation or doubt.”
Former President Donald Trump officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday and many were less than inspired.
But the tone of the speech had many wondering what had happened to Trump’s vigor as he babbled for more than an hour. The event was so dull that many of his own supporters were looking for the door.
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and two other members of Trump’s communications team ― Sarah Matthews and Alyssa Farah Griffin ― tweeted:
I think even Trump is bored w this speech. Painful to watch.
— Stephanie Grisham (@OMGrisham) November 16, 2022
You try being high energy when you’re running for President primarily to try to avoid indictment!
— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) November 16, 2022
This is one of the most low-energy, uninspiring speeches I’ve ever heard from Trump. Even the crowd seems bored. Not exactly what you want when announcing a presidential run.
— Sarah Matthews (@SarahAMatthews1) November 16, 2022
Others on the right also piled on:
He was so low-energy, it makes me wonder whether MAGA really means Make America Groggy Again
— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) November 16, 2022
LOW ENERGY.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 16, 2022
Even as a detractor I had to admit that one thing Trump had going for him was he spoke but you never really saw a 70-something year old man. Tonight he really looked like a 70-something year old man.
— Sean T at RCP is a free elf (@SeanTrende) November 16, 2022
Maybe Trump’s spirits were low because he read the terrible press coverage running up to his announcement and could see the faces in the crowd, which were nothing close to the assembly of GOP elite he commanded in rallies past.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) November 16, 2022
Demonstrating that rats do jump on sinking ships. https://t.co/MC5Dnvqu19
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) November 16, 2022
Laugh at him, dismiss him, mock this speech all you want, write him off at your own peril. I won’t.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) November 16, 2022
WOW! What a low energy speech by the Donald.
Time for new leaders! #WEAK#SleepyDonnie— Jeb Bush, Jr. (@JebBushJr) November 16, 2022