Conservative pundit Ann Coulter says Trump ‘is done’

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is predicting the end of Donald Trump’s hegemony in the GOP, saying the former president “is done.”

“Trump is done,” Coulter, a onetime Trump booster turned critic, wrote in an email to The New York Times. “You guys should stop obsessing over him.”

Coulter’s comments came in an article published in the Times on Sunday about the mounting tensions between Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) amid speculation of a potential showdown for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

While DeSantis has so far sought to tamp down rumors that he’s angling for a possible White House bid, his rise within the GOP and growing national profile have irked Trump, who sees the Florida governor as owing his political success to him.

Trump has privately griped about DeSantis’s refusal to publicly commit to foregoing a 2024 run if the former president chooses to mount another bid for the White House.

But Trump has also begun to sharpen his stance on DeSantis publicly. In an interview with a South Florida radio host last month, Trump appeared to issue a challenge to the Florida governor, saying that he would beat DeSantis in a 2024 primary if he decided to run. 

“If he wanted to run, that’s OK with me,” Trump said. “I think we’d win by a lot.”

Trump also appeared to take a swipe at DeSantis during a recent interview with the conservative One America News Network in which he slammed politicians who won’t say whether they received a COVID-19 booster shot as “gutless.” DeSantis has repeatedly dodged questions about his booster status.

Coulter pounced on Trump over those comments in a tweet last week calling the former president a “liar and con man.”

“EXCLUSIVE: Trump is demanding to know Ron DeSantis’s booster status, and I can now reveal it,” Coulter wrote. “He was a loyal booster when Trump ran in 2016, but then he learned our president was a liar and con man whose grift was permanent. I hope that clears things up.”