Ex-president Donald Trump made it clear on Friday that he’s gunning to get all 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him for inciting the Capitol insurrection catapulted out of Congress.
“1 down, 9 to go!” Trump crowed in a one-line statement after one of those Republicans, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), announced he would not run for reelection in 2022 due to the “toxic dynamics” of his party.
The ex-president had put out a longer statement earlier in the morning declaring that Gonzalez’s retirement “is no loss for Ohio or our country” and railing against the lawmaker’s “ill-informed and otherwise very stupid impeachment vote.”
Trump also emphasized his endorsement of Gonzalez’s primary challenger, Max Miller.
Gonzalez called Trump a “cancer for the country” in a New York Times interview on the day he announced his decision.
The lawmaker claimed that his retirement was not prompted by the threats he has received since he voted for impeachment.
Trump’s victory lap highlights his quest for vengeance against the handful of members of Republicans who held him accountable for unleashing a hoard of his supporters upon the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In addition to Gonzalez, Trump has endorsed the primary challengers of Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), whom Trump successfully got stripped of her leadership position as House Republican Conference chair.
