Trump on GOP: 'I'm not looking to have it be party of Trump, I'm looking to have a great country'

Wants the U.S. to be "run by people that know what they're doing."

Published: May 14, 2021 5:02pm

Updated: May 15, 2021 11:34am

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to distance himself from his superstar celebrity status in the Republican Party, suggesting that the GOP should pursue pro-American policies rather than build a platform around Trump himself.

The former president made the remarks during a lengthy interview with Rita Cosby on New York's WABC Radio on Thursday night. Asked by Cosby whether or not the rising status of Trump-friendly U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik means that the GOP is the "Republican Party of Trump," Trump demurred.

"Well, look, I'm not looking to have it be the party of Trump, I'm looking to have a great country," he said. "I'm looking to have a country that is run by people that know what they're doing."

"And we had it going, and then they had a fraudulent election," he added, alluding to claims that the 2020 election involved significant levels of voter fraud and illegal voting.

The president during the interview criticized the ongoing performance of current President Joe Biden; though he declined to give a specific "grade" to Biden's presidency thus far, he criticized the president's handling of various crises including those in Israel and at the southern U.S. border.

"[N]obody can be happy with what's happening at our border," he said. "I don't care whether you're liberal or whether you're conservative, whether you're Democrat, Republican, nobody can be happy. I don't believe that. This is what they want. And now they've lost control."