Trump issues lengthy rant against former MAGA faithfuls he calls ‘losers’ but insists: ‘I no longer care about that stuff’

Trump MAGA rift erupts as president trashes ex-loyalists: ‘Losers who couldn’t flip a county’

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

President Donald Trump unloaded on former MAGA aides and allies in a 1,800-word Truth Social post, branding them “losers” who “couldn’t flip a county sewer board” while claiming he has moved on from internal feuds.

The overnight rant targets at least 8 one-time lieutenants including ex-White House strategist Steve Bannon, former trade chief Peter Navarro and on-campaign manager Brad Parscale. “They rode my coat-tails, got rich on small-donor money, then screwed up every legal challenge we filed,” Trump wrote. “Now they beg for pardons and podcast hits. Pathetic.”

The broadside lands two weeks before mid-term primaries in 14 states where several Trump-endorsed candidates face blowback from donors who once bankrolled the MAGA franchise. Republican strategists say the public attack risks shrinking the small-dollar base that fuelled $250 million in post-2020 fundraising. “Every time he nukes an old ally, another ZIP code of retirees turns off the auto-donate button,” a senior RNC fundraiser told reporters.

Bannon, hosting his War Room podcast from a federal halfway house after completing a four-month contempt sentence, shot back within minutes. “He’s mad we wouldn’t merge the show into Trump Org,” Bannon said. “I still wear the red hat, but the movement is bigger than any man.” Video of the segment climbed to 3 million views by dawn, according to Livestream stats.

The president’s post revived long-running grudges over the 2020 election legal campaign that filed 62 failed court actions. Trump singled out Parscale for spending “$100 million on Facebook ads that delivered nothing,” and accused Navarro of “writing memos no one read while China ate our lunch.” Navarro, who faces a September trial on separate contempt charges, responded with a four-page statement titled “Policy v. Personality” and emailed it to every GOP congressional office. “Governing is not a television reunion show,” he wrote.

Donor reaction was swift. Major Trump bundler Dan Eberhart told GlobalBeat he cancelled a planned $2 million donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago next month. “Clients don’t want to swim in the drama pool,” Eberhart said. “They want tax cuts, not vengeance tweets.” WinRed, the party’s online fundraising portal, reported a 17% drop in first-time donors the day after the post, according to internal data seen by GlobalBeat.

Campaign finance records show that 34 former 2020 staffers have launched their own PACs, pulling $37 million in contributions that once flowed to Trump’s Save America committee. The largest, the “America First Integrity Fund” run by ex-lawyer Jenna Ellis, sent a fundraising text hours after the attack that read: “President turned on us. We stay in the fight anyway.” It raised $180,000 overnight, Ellis claimed.

Pollsters detect slippage among independents who backed Trump in 2024. A Cygnal survey taken Tuesday found 42% of swing voters in Pennsylvania “uncomfortable” with personal attacks on ex-aides, up from 31% last month. “Voters want forward-looking economic plans, not nostalgia for staff wars,” poll blogger Chris Mullins wrote.

Background

Trump has a history of public breakups with former fixers. After the 2018 midterms he condemned attorney Michael Cohen as “a PR agent who did terrible deals.” Cohen later testified to Congress that Trump ordered hush-money payments. The pattern repeated with ex-national security adviser John Bolton, ex-campaign chair Paul Manafort and former spokesman Jason Miller. Each departure produced a fresh round of insults, legal threats and tell-all books that kept cable news ratings alive but complicated attempts to build a disciplined political operation.

The MAGA small-donor army emerged after the 2016 election when the campaign perfected recurring monthly charges on WinRed. Monthly hauls jumped from $16 million in 2017 to $54 million in 2019, Federal Election Commission filings show. Former aides credit Parscale’s digital shop with micro-targeting Facebook ads to older voters who gave an average $34 donation 5 times a year. That revenue stream financed rallies, plane charters and legal fees, insulating Trump from traditional GOP financiers he mocked as “the donor class losers.”

What’s Next

Republican National Committee chair Pam Bondi has scheduled a donor call for Friday to reassure major givers that the party’s 2026 Senate map remains viable. Trump plans a Saturday rally in Nevada where aides say he will “pivot back to border security and tax policy,” but reporters expect questions about the widening MAGA rift. Bannon told listeners he will release internal White House memos next week that he claims show Trump “personally approved every legal strategy he now calls stupid.”

The feud threatens to overshadow this summer’s Republican convention where Trump hopes to roll out a 2026 policy platform. Aides want to keep cameras on speeches about energy permits, not on dueling press avails by ex-staffers waving non-disclosure agreements. One senior campaign official admitted the damage is done: “The story line now is Republican civil war two months before early voting starts in North Carolina. That’s not where any of us wanted to be.”