Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) got a pretty lofty endorsement from former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night at a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The fundraiser was for Stefanik, several other Republican candidates, and Trump’s political action committee. Trump teased the crowd with hints that he is considering a run for president in 2024, which was the focus of most attention.
But Trump also dropped a little nugget about Stefanik, saying, “I want to congratulate Elise on her success. Man is she moving fast. That means at this rate she’ll be President in about 6 years.”
The comment is sure to raise eyebrows among Trump’s America First supporters.
Trump says Rep. Elise Stefanik could be president in 2028 at Palm Beach fundraiser https://t.co/8Iwy3IOlRS pic.twitter.com/Lbuxi96oBy
— New York Post (@nypost) January 12, 2022
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Getting Trump’s Backing
Donald Trump continued to praise Stefanik saying, “She’s always been a friend and people would say she’s upwardly mobile. She goes to Washington as a young beautiful woman who took over and all of a sudden she becomes a rocket ship, she’s the boss. She’s been a great boss, a strong boss.”
In May of 2021, Trump endorsed Stefanik to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as House Republican Conference Chair. Cheney being a ‘Never Trumper’ who also voted to impeach the President.
Cheney has gone on to be one of two House Republicans to sit on the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot.
Thanks to our incredibly generous supporters from #NY21, New York State, and all across the country for a historic event at Mar-a-Lago this evening with President Trump!
2022 is the year we #TakeBackTheHouse and #FirePelosi once and for all!
A #REDWave will Save America! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/JC6DqjqJn3
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 12, 2022
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Not Always A Trump Supporter
Elise Stefanik is one of Donald Trump’s staunchest defenders now, but it has not always been the case.
Early on in the 2016 campaign came Trump’s infamous dust-up with then Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly.
Of Trump’s comments at the time about Kelly, Stefanik said:
“I think he has been insulting to women, I think this may be Mr. Trump’s peak moment. And I think we’re going to see his numbers change and decline over the coming weeks and months as the other candidates have an opportunity to share their vision for the future of this country. We need to ensure that we’re increasing our party’s ability to reach out to women, and I work on that in Congress. I care passionately about that. And Donald Trump’s comments have not helped that effort. They’ve hurt that effort.”
Stefanik also attacked Trump’s proposal to ban immigration from terror-sponsoring countries, saying, “This is not who we are as a country… This is not according to our constitutional principle.”
Stefanik was also not on board with Trump’s signature campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S. southern border. After Trump took office in 2017 she said of building the wall, “I don’t think that’s realistic, I don’t think the President’s plan is exactly right on that.”
🚨 💸🚨💸🚨💸
Proud to announce that last night we raised $3.2 MILLION working with President Trump for our shared effort to FLIP the House and SAVE AMERICA!
Thank you all for the generous support!
303 Days until we #FIREPelosi once and for all.#RedTsunami pic.twitter.com/r5mBPkfDJc
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 12, 2022
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Supporting Other Republican Women
Despite her initial criticism of Donald Trump, Elise Stefanik is paying forward her support from Trump by endorsing eight women from around the nation who are running for House seats in 2022. In addition to endorsing women running in 2022, she also has a list of 11 “women to watch.”
One of those endorsements went to Monica De La Cruz, one of several Republican hispanic women running in Texas. De La Cruz is hoping to flip Texas’ 15th congressional district.
Stefanik said of the endorsements, “I look forward to supporting these women across the finish line in both their primaries and general elections. Make no mistake, GOP women will be the first ones through the breach to fire Nancy Pelosi once and for all.”
🚨🚨🚨
Meet our #EPAC 2022 Majority Makers!
These #GOPWomen are fired up & ready to build on the historic success of 2020 & #FirePelosi once and for all! 💁🏻♀️🇺🇸💁🏻♀️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FFLAhWkUJP
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) November 30, 2021
