Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
Former Republican strategist Tim Miller is bashing some of the large GOP donors who helped fight Donald Trump in 2016 but are buying into him now.
It was reported this week that a top Trump aide told donors of Nikki Haley's that they shouldn't worry about the threats coming from the former president about their donations. Trump had said on Truth Social that if Haley donors think they can just waltz into his donor pool and expect access and favors, they had another thing coming.
Miller said he knew many of these donors from the Never Trump PAC efforts in 2016.
"Isn't it 2024?" Miller asked. "Have I been placed inside a time warp? I guess this was a defensible thing for Trump campaign people to say to establishment Republicans in 2016 to try to convince him to get on board back then. But we have all seen it. We have all seen that he does act on his words. And his actions are reckless and have caused death and destruction and an attack on our Capitol."
These donors are trying to live in a "fantasy world" if they think Trump will somehow be responsible if he takes the White House again. They "saw Trump for who he was in 2016" and "tried to stop him in 2016. And then rather than sticking by their principles and staying in the fight, have decided that they want to figure out any possible way to live in fantasy land and rationalize accommodating and enabling him because they can then still have access to power and influence over certain policies they care about."
He went on to call it the "most shameful thing," because those are the individuals "who know better."
"The primary is functionally over. We're going to have a bake-off between Nikki Haley's campaign and Donald Trump's?" Miller asked. "What more do they need to see? At least if you're going to go with Trump, have the courage of your convictions and just do it. Don't try to pull wool over my eyes and try to convince us, oh, he's really going to be better this time. Come on."
MSNBC host Alicia Menendez pointed out some of the threats that Trump is already making about leveraging the power of the government to seek revenge.