It’s no secret that US President Donald Trump is averse to criticism, but does he hold grudges?
According to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, Trump is a magnanimous man. And it seems to ring true, since some of his current fans and friends were previously his foes.
Who are these wily politicians? And what motivated their change of heart?
From Trump foes to fans: ‘Only permanent interests’
South Africa’s new special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas, has had to defend himself recently when questioned about calling Trump, in 2020, a “racist” and “narcissistic right-winger”. Jonas brushed off his earlier remarks, saying it was common for politicians to say “nasty” things about each other.
With so many US politicians undergoing the transition from Trump enemy to supporter, it seems Jonas may have a point.
As a popular saying (often attributed to American politician William Lacy Clay) goes: “In politics, there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.”
Politicians who were Trump’s foes
Even members of Trump’s executive once saw fashioned themselves as critics of the current president.
JD Vance: From Trump’s foe to vice-president
Astonishing as it may be, Trump’s current vice-president was once totally opposed to him. In 2016, Vance was at pains to distance himself from Trump during the US presidential election cycle.
According to the Ohio Capital Journal, in 2016 Vance sent a private message to a former law school roommate which read: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”
“My God, what an idiot,” Vance tweeted about Trump in a now-deleted post around the same time, per Politico.
While some critics see Vance as an opportunist, the vice-president himself sees himself as “a genuine convert”.
His office issued this statement in 2022: “It’s laughable that the media treats JD not liking Trump six years ago as some sort of breaking news, when they’ve already covered it to death since this race began. Clearly, President Trump trusts that JD is a genuine convert.”
Vance defended his Damascene conversion to the New York Timeslast year.
“I allowed myself to focus so much on the stylistic element of Trump that I completely ignored the way in which he substantively was offering something very different on foreign policy, on trade, on immigration,” he said.
Marco Rubio: Current US secretary of state
South Africans know Marco Rubio as the man who declared former ambassador Ebrahim Rasool a persona non grata in the US. That was after Rasool characterised Trump and his supporters as “supremacist”.
But Secretary of State Marco Rubio is no stranger to Trump’s faults, calling him a “con artist” in earlier years.
“I would prefer not to get into a fight with other Republicans,” Rubio said on CBSin 2016 when he was running in the US presidential race.
“But I would much more prefer not to turn over the party to a con artist like Donald Trump.”
That’s not all. Rubio also mocked Trump’s appearance and criticised his lack of foreign policy experience. But when Republicans backed Trump over Rubio as their 2016 presidential nominee, Rubio reluctantly endorsed his former foe.
Who else has gone from Trump’s foe to his friend?
Vance and Rubio aren’t the only ones to change their tune about Donald Trump. They’re in good company with these US politicians who used to be Trump’s enemies…
Leo Brent Bozell III
Also no stranger to turning coats is America’s incoming ambassador to South Africa – Leo Brent Bozell III, once one of Trump’s most vocal foes.
During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Bozell III is reported to have said on Fox News: “God help this country if this man were president.”
But, according to Politico,he seemed to change his tone when his remarks led to the Media Research Center (a think-tank he founded) losing funding.
Bernie Moreno
They say a leopard cannot change its spots. But US Senator Bernie Moreno is another of Trump’s frenemies upending that metaphor.
Moreno is currently a senator for Ohio and a voracious supporter of the American president.
“I wear with honour my endorsement from President Trump,” he said when he ran for the Senate.
But in 2016, it was another story. CNNreports that Moreno called Trump a “fake Republican” who was conspiring with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to destroy the Republican party. He also blamed Trump for inciting the 2021 Capitol Riots.
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham, a senator from South Carolina, is another who has gone from being one of Trump’s foes to an ardent supporter.
In 2015 interview with CNN, Graham called Trump a “jack*ss” and a “political car wreck”.
“People who say the things he said will never lead a great nation in my opinion,” he continued.
But by 2023, Graham was saying Trump made the world a “better place”.
What’s behind the 180° turn? If anyone agrees with the part about “only permanent interests”, it’s Graham.
In 2019, he told the New York Times that, in supporting Trump, he was just trying to stay “relevant”.
“If you don’t want to get re-elected, you’re in the wrong business,” he added.
Are Trump’s former foes opportunists or genuine converts?
Let us know by leaving a comment below or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211.
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