Many of Donald Trump's supporters are having "second thoughts" about him, as they see he's not prepared to become president and help solve many of the issues that are making them so angry, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Friday.
"He either, he doesn't care about these issues or, I don't think he is lazy," Perry, who dropped his own 2016 presidential bid and now backs Trump's main rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, told Fox News' Martha MacCallum on the
"America's Newsroom" program. "I think he is a hard-working fellow but maybe he doesn't think he has to go study and know these issues."
And as a result, he said there are a lot of people "who were for Donald Trump six months ago who are really rethinking this," Perry claimed. "Women in particular, they're seeing some things come out of his mouth that are really horrendous when it comes to women and, you know, whether it is foreign policy or whether it is social issues, real concerns, I think a lot of those people are having second thoughts about Donald Trump now."
Trump's issue with attracting female voters is "real, and it's deep," Perry also said.
"I don't know how he gets himself out of that hole. Even if he stops digging it is so deep I think most voters out there are like, 'Is this person really thoughtful enough, is he mature enough? Does he really care enough to learn the issues?' Real questions are starting to come up about Donald Trump and his preparedness to be president of the United States."
MacCallum pointed out that for some time, Trump's rivals were hesitant to go after him for fear of alienating his supporters, but Cruz is no longer backing off.
Perry, though, responded that he does not think Cruz is attacking Trump's supporters, but rather bringing their attention to the issues.
Further, he thinks that there will be a contested convention in July, and he thinks Cruz will eventually be the nominee, even though Ohio Gov. John Kasich continues to stay in the race.
"I said early on I thought this was headed to a contested convention," said Perry. "I still think that. And it is a two-person race ... I think Ted Cruz by a large margin is going to have the support of the convention. I think he will be our nominee, and I think not only will he do well, I think he will thrash Hillary Clinton."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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