OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has torn into WNBA star Brittney Griner and the proposed trade of a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States for her and Paul Whelan.
He was speaking to radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on Friday when they spoke on various topics, including Griner.
“She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory where they’re very vigilant about drugs. They don’t like drugs. And she got caught. And now we’re supposed to get her out — and she makes, you know, a lot of money, I guess. We’re supposed to get her out for an absolute killer and one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. Killed many Americans. Killed many people. And he’s gonna get a free card and we’re gonna get her,” the former president said.
“She knew you don’t go in there loaded up with drugs, and she admitted it. I assume she admitted it without too much force because it is what it is, and it certainly doesn’t seem like a very good trade, does it? He’s absolutely one of the worst in the world, and he’s gonna be given his freedom because a potentially spoiled person goes into Russia loaded up with drugs,” he said.
The former president spoke on other topics, including his possible candidacy for president in 2024.
He said it would be “very hard” for him not to campaign for the presidency, presumably against President Joe Biden, Mediaite reported.
“Knowing what you know and seeing what you see of Joe Biden, how do you not run in 2024?” Travis said.
“Very hard for me not to run, to be honest,” the former president responded. “And also, the polls indicate that, from the Republican standpoint, it would be easy.”
“There are some things we just have to ask you, Mr. President. If you’re gonna announce, when are you gonna announce? Can you tell us that?” Sexton said.
The former president said it all comes to two words: “Is it before or after?”
The “before or after” refers to the midterm elections, and his answer indicated that he is going to announce his candidacy and the only question is when.
“Well, if I’m gonna announce, I’ll have to make a decision, is it going to be…? You know, two words: Is it before or after? And there are reasons for both. Some very good things about earlier. There’s some very good things about later. The way I look at it is if I announce early and we do well, I’ll get credit for having done well — as much as you’ll get ’cause the press won’t give you credit anyway. If I do poorly, I’ll get absolutely… It’ll be horrible. But if I announce later and we do well, I won’t get any criticized,” he said.
“In fact, if I announce later and we don’t do well, whether it’s before or after, they’ll blame me. In other words, if we do badly, they’ll blame me no matter what even if I had nothing to do with it. So I don’t know. I will make a decision,” the president said.
“I’ll make a decision fairly soon,” he said. “And my… I must tell you — and I think I can say this — in my mind, I’ve already made the decision.”
One recent report speculated that New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely a frontrunner, CNN reported.
While talk about a 2024 vice-presidential pick is of course premature, conversations about adding Stefanik to a future Trump ticket have gained steam in recent weeks at Mar-a-Lago and in other Republican circles, sources said. Current and former advisers and others in Trump’s orbit have privately argued that the New York Republican, who replaced Rep. Liz Cheney as the no. 3 House Republican last year, is a fierce and loyal attack dog, and Trump would benefit from tapping a woman for vice president should he run again.
Two people familiar with the matter said Trump has been surveying close friends and allies on what they think of Stefanik, one of several Republican women he is possibly eyeing for the potential VP slot, though he has not ruled out a few male contenders, too. One of these people said the former President believes Stefanik has undergone a genuine transformation – leaving the moderate wing of the party to join its increasingly powerful “America First” flank.
