Donald Trump criticized by GOP lawmaker following attacks during South Carolina rally

Former President Donald Trump continues to exert his influence over the Republican Party, especially as the midterm races are coming up this year. A Republican congressman pushed back against the former president’s attacks against him during his rally in South Carolina.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Tom Rice, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for the second time, pushed back against the former president’s attacks against him during his rally. During the event, Trump called Rice and fellow GOP Rep. Nancy Mace “atrocious RINOS” and that Rice was “a disaster” and a fool who is laughed at in Washington.

Trump then went on to tell the crowd that they have a chance to vote Mace and Rice out of Congress, replacing them with pro-Trump candidates. This led to Rice pushing back, describing Trump as a “would-be tyrant.”

“If you want a congressman who supports political violence in Ukraine or in the United States Capitol, who supports party over country, who supports a would-be tyrant over the constitution, and who makes decisions based solely on re-election, then Russell Fry is your candidate,” said Rice, referring to the candidate Trump has endorsed.

“Trump is here because, like no one else I’ve ever met, he is consumed by spite. I took one vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says,” Rice added.

When it came to voting to impeach Trump for the second time, despite voting against the first time, Rice was reported by The Guardian saying that there have been people who have criticized him for voting to impeach, but more people have thanked him for his decision.

Trump has often boasted as of late that if he was elected to another term, the Russian invasion of Ukraine would never have happened. However, CNN host Jake Tapper dismantled Trump’s claim in Monday’s episode of “The Lead,” explaining why the former president’s claim was nonsense.

Tapper cited Trump’s recent comments calling Putin a “genius” and “savvy” in invading Ukraine and that some of the former president’s foreign policy advisers have also questioned whether Trump’s approach seemed to empower Putin in his latest attempt to invade, following Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014.

Tapper noted that Trump and his supporters have made comparisons between Trump’s presidency to that of his predecessors George W. Bush and Barack Obama saying that there was no invasion while he was in office. However, Tapper added that it was likely due to the possibility that Trump would have withdrawn the US from the NATO alliance, which is something Putin hoped would happen, citing Trump’s constant criticism of the alliance.