Ex-LI Congressman On Trump 2024 Bid: 'Not Able To Handle The Pressure'

SEAFORD, NY — Donald Trump made his political intentions known. The former president wants to live in the White House again.

Trump would join only Grover Cleveland to win two non-consecutive terms for president.

However, Trump came into the announcement wounded by his hand-picked candidates losing in the Midterms last week.

Unlike recent rallies and most Trump speeches, his remarks on Tuesday night kept primarily to the script.

"He stayed on message. He was focused," former Long Island congressman Peter King told Patch. "But you have to base it on the last seven years, and he's never been able to stay on message."

Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that if Trump keeps that tone throughout the campaign, "he will be hard to beat."

King, who retired after 28 years on Capitol Hill, had supported Trump for his two previous presidential runs. He also knows the power Trump can bring.

"I will never sell [him] short under any conditions," King said. "I don't think any Republican has a higher level of support."

But for King, the calculus changed after Election Day in 2020.

"He was not able to handle the pressure," King said.

Plus, King blames Trump for losing the two Senate seats in Georgia, giving President Joe Biden's Democrats a tie-breaking majority to start his term.

"From a Republican perspective, we could have kept Joe Biden from doing so much of what he did," King said.

As for the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, King thinks Trump's "language was out of order." But, he "didn't blame" Trump for the rioting.

However, King thought the former Commander-in-Chief failed for not reacting quickly.

"He waited two, three hours, yet people like [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy were begging him to get involved and he wouldn't," King said.

The longtime legislator said Trump has always been about Trump.

"He's so fixated on the past, so fixated on the 2020 election [and] so fixated on him being center stage that he just loses perspective," King said.

Although King thought Trump would have shown control as president, he doesn't regret endorsing him over Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Biden in 2020. While King lined up well with Trump's policy, "as he got closer to the finish line, he was becoming more erratic."

Even though King is pushing for Trump to exit the stage, should he get the nomination in 2024, King admitted he'd support Trump in a rematch against Biden.

"I oppose almost all of Biden's policies," he said.

King is concerned about Trump's long-term impact on the GOP; if he doesn't secure the nomination and doesn't support the party's choice, "that would hurt the party."

King also feels the Trump base, while still strong, doesn't have as tight a grip since the "election lie" was perpetrated.

One of the bigger Republican winners last week was Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is on the short list of presidential possibilities for the next cycle.

"He can't call him a RINO. He can't call him the establishment," King said. "All the things he uses to attack others, he really can't use against DeSantis."

Also with regard to 2024, will Biden or won't he? King says he can go out on top.

"He can claim victory for the midterm elections, defeated Trump, left the party stronger than when he found it, and now it's time to have a younger person," King suggested.

Former vice president Mike Pence may also make a run for the highest office. He's "one of the most honorable people I ever met."

He also "showed a lot of guts" on Jan. 6 as he had a bullseye on his back.

"He didn't lose his composure. He refused to leave the Capitol," King said, realizing that Trump supporters will not agree. "He and his family were at the Capitol; it's under siege and Trump never even called to see how he was doing.

"I don't know how he had the composure to go back to the White House and talk to Trump a few days later," King said. "That really crossed a line, what Trump did to Pence."