A former 2024 Republican presidential contender has thrown his support behind former President Donald Trump while also throwing some shade at the Republican National Committee.
Michigan businessman Perry Johnson suspended his longshot campaign last week and has since argued that he believes Trump is the only Republican in the current primary field who can defeat President Joe Biden next year.
“After suspending my campaign for President on Friday, there is now only one candidate in this race who can provide a solution to our nation’s economic, foreign policy and social crises, and most importantly, beat Joe Biden at the ballot box. That person is Donald Trump,” Johnson said.
“During President Trump’s first term, our nation saw historic peace agreements, no new wars, an economic revival, and forged a new path forward away from corrupt, establishment career politicians,” Johnson noted further. “I supported President Trump in 2016 and 2020, and am proud to offer him my full endorsement once again as he seeks the Republican nomination for President in 2024.”
He then added: “I look forward to assisting in efforts to elect him next year and uniting with other conservatives to defeat Joe Biden in November.”
When Johnson suspended his campaign, he also took some verbal shots at the RNC. He announced Friday he was “suspending his campaign while lamenting government spending, inflation, and what he perceived as corruption in the Republican National Committee,” Newsmax reported.
“I ran for President with the single focus of ensuring that the country my children inherit is just as extraordinary as the America in which I grew up,” Johnson said in a statement.
He said his top concern was the government’s “out-of-control spending, which has caused rampant inflation and forced skyrocketing interest rates,” which, he believes, is “painful for middle America and hurting American families.” He expressed fears that this “recklessness jeopardizes Social Security, Medicare, National Defense, and our whole way of life.”
His main platform policy was the “Two Cent Plan,” which sought to “cut two cents off of every dollar in federal discretionary spending to end inflation and solve the debt crisis,” says his campaign website. “It’s simple. It’s reasonable. It can be done.”
“The corruption among leaders at the RNC during this process was appalling,” he also said.
He then accused the RNC’s leaders of manipulating the debate process to sideline outsider candidates like himself. Johnson claimed that “corrupt leaders used their authoritarian power to kick me off the stage at 11 p.m. the Monday before the debate,” even as his team was in the process of working out the logistics with Fox News.
