Ex-GOP Congressman Warns ‘We Should Be Terrified’ of Second Trump Term

Former Republican Representative Denver Riggleman warned “we should be terrified” of a second Trump administration on Sunday morning.

The one-term Virginia Representative, who has since disavowed the GOP, appeared on MSNBC’s The Weekend to speak about recent accounts of former President Donald Trump’s idea of imposing tariffs to replace income tax.

In response to CNBC’s Friday reporting from several CEOs at the Business Roundtable’s quarterly meeting, who said Trump “was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought and was all over the map,” Riggleman asked the MSNBC panel, “Why are we surprised?”

“He’s been meandering and pretty crazy and can’t get his facts straight even on stump speeches,” Riggleman said.

He described Trump to the panel of hosts as “somebody who can’t keep their thoughts straight, really has never been policy specific, and always tried to rule, and I say the word rule because he said he wants to be a dictator, through this populist, xenophobic, racist message.”

In December, Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he won’t be a dictator “except for day one,” referring to his first day in the Oval Office. Trump added that “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”

“He’s not going to surround himself with the best and brightest, we know that,” Rigglemen told MSNBC. “So, we should be terrified going into a Trump administration,” he said.

Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is currently polling 1.1 points ahead of President Joe Biden, according to FiveThirtyEight’s national poll aggregator on Sunday. He also leads Biden in multiple polls of critical swing states.

In 2019, Trump openly supported Riggleman’s re-election campaign. Riggleman, then a Republican, received Trump’s endorsement via a social media post.

“Congressman @Denver4VA Riggleman is a true CONSERVATIVE leader who has done a great job for Virginia and will support our #MAGA Agenda. He defends our right to bear arms, protect our Borders & help small businesses. Denver has my Total Endorsement!” the then president wrote at the time.

From July 2021 to April 2022, Riggleman served as a senior technical adviser to the January 6 House select committee. That committee was investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results as well as the pro-Trump rioters who entered, and in some cases violently attacked, the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the select committee, suggesting that those involved with it should be jailed. The former president has also said that he will consider pardoning his supporters who have been prosecuted in connection with January 6.

In June 2022, Riggleman told CNN’s Jake Tapper, that he no longer identifies with the Republican party, saying, “I think the party left me some time ago.” He added, “the party has moved away from conservative principles to this cult of personality.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign spokesperson and Riggleman for comment via email on Sunday.