A conservative evangelical leader in Iowa called out Donald Trump on social media over the weekend, then hosted one of his chief rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
Bob Vander Plaats, head of the conservative Family Leader organization, shared a conspiracy-laden message from BlazeTV host Steve Deace attacking Trump for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This, and more, is why @realDonaldTrump supporters are looking for another candidate,” Vander Plaats wrote. “The facts aren’t lining up with the repetitive rhetoric. This is the #swamp.”
He also shared an image of himself with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is currently in a distant second place behind thrice-arraigned Trump in polls of Republican primary voters:
Vander Plaats has been increasingly vocal against Trump, saying in spring that Americans were “exhausted” by the former president’s harping on the past.
“I think they want to turn the page to the next generation leader, someone who’s got a compelling vision that might unite America around things that actually bless America,” he told “The Hill on NewsNation.”
That trend continued on X ― formerly known as Twitter ― over the weekend, where on Sunday Vander Plaats called out Trump for “F bombs and mocking people with disabilities.”
And last week, he shared a poll showing nearly half of Trump voters were open to someone else, saying he believed the real number was even higher. He said Trump supporters tell him they still like him, but “they just don’t believe he can win.”
Vander Plaats has never formally endorsed Trump, but voted for him in both 2016 and 2020 and wrote on op-ed on his behalf, also in 2020, according to CBS News.
Along with hosting DeSantis, Vander Plaats also praised another GOP contender, Vivek Ramaswamy, for a Politico column in which he said Trump delivered “just another tale of grievance, a persecution complex that swallowed much of the Republican Party whole.”
