Former President Donald Trump blasted the Club for Growth on Tuesday after his name was left off the guest list for the conservative anti-tax organization's annual donor retreat.
"The Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers, fought me incessantly and rather viciously during my presidential run in 2016," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "They said I couldn't win, I did, and won even bigger in 2020, with millions of more votes than '16, but the Election was Rigged & Stollen."
Trump's remarks come a day after Club for Growth President David McIntosh said nominating Trump to be the GOP candidate in 2024 would diminish the Republican Party's chances of winning the presidency.
"The party should be open to another candidate," McIntosh told reporters on Tuesday.
He said that the six potential GOP presidential nominees who were invited to this year's event were Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. It's unclear as to whether any of the invited Republicans will be in attendance.
The Club for Growth was once among Trump's staunchest allies. While critical of Trump in 2016, the conservative group supported his reelection campaign and was among one of the biggest backers of Republican lawmakers who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
However, the two had a falling out after each endorsed a different candidate in last year's Republican primaries for Senate seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Since the midterm elections, the Club for Growth has gone all-in for DeSantis, Trump's biggest Republican rival.
On the eve of Trump's 2024 announcement, the group released internal polling that showed the former president trailing behind DeSantis in a head-to-head primary match-up. The governor has yet to launch a formal bid for the White House.
On Monday, McIntosh also suggested that the Republicans' disappointing midterm results had largely to do with the former president, arguing that "Trump was on the ballot."
"The last three elections show he's lost," McIntosh said.
"I worry that when we get into a general election if Trump is the nominee, [the Democrats are] going to be able to take a chunk of Republican votes," he added.
On the other hand, the Club for Growth has praised DeSantis for his 2022 reelection, saying that while "no one is surprised" by the governor's victory, "the margin of victory outlines how popular his platform is when compared to the Democrats."
Newsweek reached out to the Club for Growth for comment.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
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