A day after officially announcing he will challenge President Trump for the 2020 Republican nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld blasted the president as a “would-be emperor” who praises dictators, adding that the only he has in common with the president is they’re both “big orange men.”
Weld, who was the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2016, was asked by MSNBC host Kasie Hunt on Tuesday afternoon whether he actually thought he could successfully take on Trump considering the president’s popularity among Republican voters.
The former Bay State governor suggested that GOP voters have been “buffaloed” by the RNC and that they have not truly seen how “mean-spirited” Trump is to the “little people.”
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“But the more that’s known about the president’s business conduct and his conduct in office, the more I think people will come to question whether they really think it’s such a great idea being behind this commander-in-chief in office,” Weld noted.
“He’s insulted our military allies, he’s praised dictators abroad,” he continued. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, as they’ve said, and as more is known about his record and whether or not this would-be emperor has new clothes, I think the better for the ultimate result.”
Hunt then wondered if Weld offered any substantial policy differences with the president, prompting the 6’4” ex-governor to reference the two men’s similar skin hues and heights. (Trump is listed at 6’3”.)
“The one thing we have in common is that we’re both big orange men,” Weld joked as Hunt snickered. “And he’s even bigger than I am, I’ll grant him that. Not in terms of height, but otherwise.”
He added that “we really have nothing in common” before calling himself an “economic conservative” while claiming Trump has “never cut a dime in spending.” Asked whether he’d vote against Trump’s tax cut plan, Weld pointed to his own record of cutting both taxes and spending before once again taking on Trump personally.
“He certainly is an isolationist to a fault,” Weld exclaimed. “He wants us to despise people from every other country and frighten the American public into thinking that they're under siege from people in every other nation. That he calls being a nationalist. It really just means to him it's more important that we hate everybody else.”
