There continues to be fallout from former President Donald Trump launching a preemptive verbal strike against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Candace Owens is the latest Trump supporter to question the former Republican president.
“So in terms of my relationship with Donald Trump you guys obviously know that I have been one of his most vocal supporters all throughout his presidency,” Owens said in a video released on Thursday. “He was a very big piece of my transformation from the left to the right he’s a big piece of my personal story and my personal awakening.”
“I’m very grateful for Donald Trump, and I’m very grateful that he was the president of the United States,” Owens continued. “And I’ve been honored that I’ve been able to be on stage and honor him as the then-president when he was a sitting president.”
Owens said there was a shift towards the end of Trump’s presidency, and she blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for handcuffing Trump.
She warned that Trump shutting down the government could have long-term ramifications because it could provide Democrats with a precedent to lock the entire country down over a respiratory disease.
Owens has also been adamant about being against the COVID-19 vaccine. During her interview with Trump in December 2021, Candace confronted the former president about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Owens asked Trump where he stands on the vaccine mandates. He replied, “People have to have their freedom,” and then touted the COVID-19 vaccine as “one of the greatest achievements of mankind.”
Owens asked about COVID-19 deaths, and Trump responded, “The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take their vaccine, but it’s still their choice, and if you take the vaccine you’re protected.”
Trump added, “And if you do get it, it’s a very minor form, people aren’t dying with the vaccine.”
Owens said that she was attempting to inform Trump of the “sentiment of his own base” on COVID-19 vaccines. She defended Trump, and stressed that it is a “ridiculous assessment” that he was selling out the base of MAGA supporters.
Owens gave more clarification about her stance in an Instagram video, where she said she felt as though people over the age of 60 were more likely to believe the mainstream media and newspapers about the official vaccine messaging.
The conservative commentator said, “So I believe that his support of the vaccine is genuine and it’s not based in any corruption at all.”
Addressing why Trump hasn’t acknowledged reports of possible efficacy issues with the COVID-19 vaccine, Owens theorized, “I believe also, he only reads the mainstream media news. I do not believe that Trump reads or partakes in any other news sources. I don’t believe that Trump is on the internet, or you know that he necessarily uses like you know the web to try to find obscure websites. I think that he just relies on typical mainstream sources.”
Owens said that she was defending Trump, not taking a shot at him, but rather providing commentary on his generation.
The Daily Beast took Owens’ remarks and published an article with the headline: “Candace Owens: Trump is Pro-Vax Because He’s ‘Too Old’ to Understand the Internet.”
She proclaimed, “I never once called Trump ‘too old.’ I never once said Trump could not understand the Internet. And yet, somehow, he got that information and believed it to be true.”
Owens alleges that a mutual friend informed Trump of the article, and he purportedly became upset with Candace, and allegedly said, “I’m so mad at Candace.”
Owens claims, “And this got back to me that he was angry, that he was upset with me. And the next time I saw him, he was quite rude to me. He was actually rude to me.”
The incident caused Candance to question if Trump was becoming “too angry.”
She noted that Trump was “having fun” in the 2016 and 2020 election campaigns.
She said in the video, “In 2020, you could feel the energy, it was electric.”
“I think after the 2020 election and because of the shock of all the things that happened, and the answers that we never really feel that we got, this sinking realization that we might actually be losing our country, I think that it pushed him into an angry space, where he doesn’t trust anybody,” Owens said of Trump. “Where he doesn’t listen to anybody, where he’s almost likely to believe that everybody is trying to turn their back on him and stab him in the back. And again, I don’t believe that that’s leadership.”
Owens reiterated that Trump was “so rude to me.”
Candace said Trump has “every right to be angry” over his 2020 election loss because of “fishy” factors.
“But if you stay at a place of anger, right, you are ignoring everything that is going on around you. You’re no longer looking and accessing things in the way that you should be accessing things because you’re holding on to this almost vengeful spirit,” Owens said. “Is he going to get over the trauma of the election of 2020 and begin to paint a vision for 2024? What is his vision for 2024?”
“Is it ‘I’m back?’ Because that’s not a vision to me,” she continued. “It needs to be more than, ‘I’m back.'”
Owens suggested that Trump is having “paranoia” and “trepidation” and the MAGA movement is sensing the uneasiness.
Owens said in her podcast that Trump “taking a random swing” at DeSantis was not helpful.
“I am not under any impression that Trump can’t win in 2024,” Owens declared. “What I am saying is that Trump needs to take a good look in the mirror, and he needs to take a good look in the room, and he needs to read the room accurately.”
“He needs to exercise a tiny bit more humility, when he gets something wrong,” she added. “Trump is not perfect, I am not perfect. I get things wrong and I edit.”
On Sunday, Owens wrote on Twitter, “I am being serious when I say that Trump lost of lot of his supporters (and financial backers) because of his support of the vaccines. I am being serious when I say I hope he hears the feedback and rather than calling those supporters ‘traitors’— simply addresses it.”
She added, “People are mad at me for pointing out that Trump misread his base on vaccines. Never once said I wouldn’t vote for him, just that read his base wrong and then blamed me. It is not an act of betrayal to point out that he’s been trigger-friendly against his allies.”
Owens said she was skeptical of DeSantis and the sudden support of him by the mainstream media, “The media in lock-step glorifying Desantis is suspicious. I’m not sold on him, whatsoever. Trump not listening to his supporters’ concerns is arrogance. 2024 will be interesting.”
Owens revealed her dream Republican ticket for 2024, “My favorite potential candidate for 2024 is Kari Lake. Her and Rep. Thomas Massie would be my dream team. A lot of reasons for that. Will explain when it becomes more relevant.”
You can watch the entire Candace Owens video below.
Why Trump Got Upset With Me www.youtube.com