'Could care less about him': Staunch Trump ally bad-mouthed him in newly-found messages

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is one of the most loyal MAGA footsoldiers. He has been tapped as a shortlister for former President Donald Trump's running mate for 2024, and has refused to commit to certifying election results that go against Trump if serving in that role.

But he wasn't always like this.

A new investigation by CNN's KFile reveals that once upon a time — like so many of Trump's modern allies such as Sen. Ted Cruz — Donalds was a sharp critic of the former president.

The report unearthed comments dating back to 2011 and 2012, when Donalds was an activist in the Tea Party movement and an unsuccessful candidate for Congress and Trump was stirring controversy by promoting racist conspiracy theories that then-President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States and was ineligible for office.

Donalds criticized Trump for these rants — and also criticized him for being too protectionist on economic policy.

"'Trump is a huge distraction, and cares more about himself than the country in my opinion, but I could care less about him,' Donalds wrote in a Facebook post in April 2011 when discussing Trump’s claims that Obama’s birth certificate was fake."

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"'I don’t question his religion or his citizenship,' Donalds said. 'Quite a few Democrats and liberals still think Bush caused 9/11.'"

He went on to call Trump "a self-promoter yelling about 25% tariffs on China."

"In other public comments from the same time, Donalds argued against Trump’s calls to boost U.S. manufacturing, saying it was cheaper to make clothes in China than in Michigan, and said he favored privatizing entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which would be better as a 'voucher,' along with raising the retirement age," the report noted.

Trump, notably, has vowed not to touch Social Security and Medicare in the past, but his failed 2017 Obamacare repeal legislation would have rolled back some Medicare reforms, and in more recent interviews he's said he's open to cuts.

When CNN reached out to Donalds for comment, a spokesperson said, “President Trump is considering Byron as his running mate because of the Congressman’s steadfast support for the 45th President and his historic policy agenda. The fact that these decade-old posts are now resurfacing in the middle of running mate deliberations is weak but typical of CNN.”