Former President Donald Trump bashed his Republican primary opponents on Wednesday while speaking to striking automakers in Michigan, stating they “are all running for a job” in his administration if he is elected and that he does not think he sees vice president material in the field.
Trump’s comments came at a manufacturing plant in Clinton Township, Michigan, where he spoke before striking autoworkers as his primary opponents participated in the second primary debate.
Trump announces he will not choose anyone currently running for President as his running mate. pic.twitter.com/EvXW8kTg6U
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 28, 2023
“We’re competing with the job candidates. They’re are all running for a job,” Trump jested.
“They want to be in the – they want to – they’ll do anything. Secretary of something,” he said. “They even say VP? I don’t know. Does anybody see any VP in the group? I don’t think so.”
Trump then argued he drew a larger crowd than his rivals at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
“They don’t have a crowd like we have,” he said, adding thousands were outside the plant hoping to get inside.
Trump has a towering lead over his opponents in national polls, eclipsing a majority or often approaching 60 percent of support in the vast majority of them. As of Wednesday evening, Trump, who has been indicted four times this year, averaged 56.6 percent of support in the Real Clear Politics polling average and held a 42 percent advantage over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), his nearest opponent.
The lead is on par with Trump’s performance in an NBC News poll released on Tuesday, showing him at 59 percent support, DeSantis at 16 percent, and former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) at seven percent. Several other candidates came in under five percent.
DeSantis has fallen off dramatically since the early Spring, and an expectation is widely held among those in Florida Politics that his campaign “will end in failure,” Politico reported last week.
