At an April 9 rally in North Carolina, the former President appeared delighted with the Club for Growth chief. “He’s a winner. He’s a fighter. We are undefeated when we work together,” Trump said as he welcomed the conservative power broker onstage.
“You are a great man. … I am so proud to partner with you,” McIntosh replied.
Unnerved by McIntosh’s defiance, Trump reportedly asked an intermediary to deliver a curt text message to him.
The two men haven’t spoken since, according to a person close to Trump. On Wednesday, the Club launched a new ad once again targeting Vance for his past criticism of Trump and highlighting Trump’s past endorsement of Mitt Romney’s 2018 Senate campaign in Utah.
McIntosh’s swift exile from Trump World has now left some Republican candidates reeling. Meanwhile, four people familiar with the situation said the Club for Growth is grappling with frustrated board members and donors, who worry its influence will plunge if it doesn’t quickly patch things up with Trump. It’s the latest episode in the former President’s quest for singular influence over the GOP, further underscoring Trump’s expectation that allies either bend to his will or get out of his way.
But even if the Club acquiesced to regain its foothold in Trump’s post-presidency operation, some of his allies plan to urge the former President to keep the group at arm’s length.
“The Club for Growth is the single most destructive force among these outside groups in Republican politics. If you just go down the list of any policy that is at the core of Trump’s economic plan — except for corporate tax cuts — they oppose it,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, whose “War Room” podcast has long been a platform for the Club’s most fervent critics.
“The Club for Globalists is basically one of a class … that basically push this globalist elitist agenda that is night to the day of … Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,” former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on one episode of the program.
Another person close to Trump, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the group’s firm resistance to protectionist trade and industrial policies doesn’t align with the MAGA platform.
“Trump has been fooled by McIntosh, and I think he’s realizing that,” this person said.
A spokesperson for Trump declined to comment on the situation.
Club for Growth spokesman Joe Kildea said McIntosh and Trump have “worked well together in the past and will in the future,” before declining to respond to further requests for comment.
Kildea also noted that the group intends to continue supporting Mandel and Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks, whom Trump rescinded his endorsement for in March over the congressman’s desire to move on from the 2020 election.
“We’re glad to have the Club’s support and it doesn’t change much of what we’re doing here,” Brooks campaign press secretary Will Hampson said.
‘A target on his back’
Some Trump aides and allies said the former President’s relationship with McIntosh was already in trouble before the Club doubled down on its Ohio strategy.
In recent months, they said, Trump privately complained about an imbalance in the relationship even as the group spent millions to prop up Trump-backed candidates in difficult primaries who have received minimal contributions from Trump himself. While the former President continued to host McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman, at Mar-a-Lago to solicit his advice on different contests and candidates, he simultaneously griped to allies that the Club chief wasn’t fully committed to his 2022 recruits.
Trump has been especially annoyed, one ally said, that the Club has not endorsed or lent assistance to Wyoming congressional hopeful Harriet Hageman, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney in one of the former President’s highest-profile efforts to oust his foes inside the GOP.
“They spend money when they get Trump to endorse candidates that…
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