Trump has a 2024 message for the GOP: 'We've already defeated the Republicans'

Former President Donald Trump is wooing and providing dinner entertainment for Republicans, but he’s not afraid to take shots at members of his own party, even when addressing partisan audiences.

“Nobody even has a chance,” Trump told the big Alabama GOP fundraising dinner on Friday night. “We’ve already defeated the Republicans.”

That was Trump’s segue into telling Alabama Republicans not to count on seeing him at the first Republican National Committee debate in Milwaukee later this month.

“You know, they all want me to go onto the debate stage. And I say, well, if we're at 71 and there is 0, 1, 2, 3, some of them are 4 or 5, does it really make a lot of sense? Does it really? I love to debate, but sometimes, you don't want to be a fool. You want a smart president. You don't want a stupid president.”