Ex-GOP lawmaker slams 'absurd' Republican presidential field 'moved by vanity and power'

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL), an outspoken critic of the GOP since having left it, tore into the candidates running against former President Donald Trump on MSNBC Friday evening, blasting them as unserious candidates running more on their own egos than any tangible alternative to the MAGA movement.

This comes as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, emerging as one of the only noteworthy rivals to Trump as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to falter in polls, has come under fire for vowing to pardon Trump of any crimes, and for being unable to definitively say the Civil War was about slavery.

"Why are any of these people running when, with the exception of Chris Christie, none of them will take on the frontrunner," said anchor Jonathan Capehart. "If they want to be the Republican frontrunner, they have to take on Trump. And they won't."

"Yeah, Jonathan, vanity is a powerful drug," said Jolly. "You see it on the street in politics all the time. It's true in this Republican primary."

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"[Vivek] Ramaswamy, I think, has pulled his money from TV because he's fine spending other peoples money on TV ads, but he doesn't want to spend his own money on a losing campaign," said Jolly. "And then there's the question of Nikki Haley ... why are you in this race if you cannot confront Donald Trump on something as simple as whether or not immigrants have poisoned the blood of America, or if you can't suggest that Civil War — that the Civil War was about slavery? If you cannot do that, why are you running?"

"I would suggest to Haley, forget about separating yourself from Donald Trump for a moment, separate yourself from Ron DeSantis," added Jolly. "All of those Brooks Brothers donors that came your way because Ron DeSantis was too crazy on culture wars, you just told them that you're going to deny slavery if you're President of the United States."

"This is an absurd field of Republicans, fueled by vanity and power, they're going to lose to Donald Trump, and they're going to succumb and fall at his knee just like every other Republican will," he concluded.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

David Jolly says Republican presidential field is "absurd"www.youtube.com