(Mike Osborne) — A prominent Tennessee Republican has criticized former President Donald Trump, a political move unthinkable just days ago.
In a twitter post Wednesday, Knoxville GOP State Rep. Jason Zachary berated the former Republican president for his divisive social media posts. Zachary also endorsed GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024.
Some GOP stalwarts began openly criticizing Trump following Tuesday's mid-term election, blaming him for failing to lead the party to a widely expected "red wave" of Republican victories.
State Rep. Zachary joined that chorus Wednesday. He praised Trump for his leadership while serving as president but criticized his divisive rhetoric in the two years since losing the 2020 election.
Zachary then went a step further and threw his 2024 presidential endorsement to Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, writing in part that the GOP needs the kind of “bold, decisive, proven, unifying" leadership he believes DeSantis can provide.
Trump pushed back against the criticism, writing on Truth Social Thursday that the mid-term results were a "Big Victory, don’t be stupid. Stand on the rooftops and shout it out loud!"