The Republicans who low-key criticized Trump — and then publicly backed him

Republicans have for years been quick to criticize Donald Trump — just not in public.

Behind the scenes and on now-scrubbed social media posts, occasionally even in public, many prominent Republicans have lashed out at the former president's iconoclastic personality, numerous personal controversies, hostile demeanor, claims the 2020 election was stolen and more.

But as Trump continues to flex his power to animate the GOP electorate, they’re now quick to stand in line and by his side as they seek an all-important endorsement or consideration for a position in a potential future administration.

That dynamic has recently come to a head in an Ohio congressional district, where Republicans are battling against longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur to take a district that state GOP lawmakers drew to kick her out. After J.R. Majewski lost to Kaptur in 2022 after he campaigned on disputed claims that he served on combat duty in Afghanistan, some Ohio Republicans wanted a former state lawmaker, Craig Riedel, to gun for the seat.

Last week, however, an audio tape surfaced of Riedel calling Trump “arrogant” and vowing that he wouldn’t endorse him. Not a great look if you want Trump's coveted endorsement. And for good measure, a purported message from Majewski — who is running again — calling Trump an “idiot” has also made the rounds in the election.

At this point, it seems to be a time-honored tale. Here are seven of the more memorable instances of Republicans who have amplified anti-Trump messages — only to later reel them back.

1.     Kevin McCarthy

In perhaps the most dramatic example of the dynamic, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol only to show up at Mar-a-Lago before the month was up to make amends with him — complete with a photo of the two together.

“I’ve been very clear to the president — he bears responsibilities for his words and actions,” McCarthy told Republican lawmakers after the riot. “No if, ands or buts.”

“I asked him personally today: Does he hold responsibility for what happened?” he said further. “Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened, and he’d need to acknowledge that.”

Now, despite Trump not helping save his speakership, McCarthy has endorsed his 2024 run.

2.     Mike Johnson

The Louisiana Republican who made a stunning rise to the speakership this fall wasn’t a fan of Trump in 2015, when he wrote on Facebook that Trump was “a hot head by nature” that he was afraid “would break more things than he fixes.”

“The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House,” he wrote on Facebook.

He has since endorsed Trump’s 2024 campaign and said that his statements were made before he personally knew the former president.

3.     Elise Stefanik

Stefanik was once a moderate House member whothought Trump was a “whack job.” As Trump was making his first run for the White House, she said that his rhetoric was “tapping into the fear today of our security situation” and that his proposed Muslim ban was “not who we are as a country.”

Now the chair of the House Republican Conference, Stefanik is one of the chamber’s fiercest defenders of Trump, having strongly embraced his false claims of election fraud.

4.     Tucker Carlson and Fox News pundits

In Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit against Fox News, legal documents revealed that Tucker Carlson was a harsh critic of the former president in private and that other pundits on the channel disagreed with Trump's claims of election fraud.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,” the prominent conservative commentator texted an unidentified recipient. “I hate him passionately.”

By arguing for overturning the election, Trump’s lawyer was “lying” and a “complete nut,” Carlson texted Laura Ingraham, another pundit.

Carlson, whom Fox later fired, interviewed Trump in counterprogramming for the first Republican presidential debate earlier this year.

5.     Ted Cruz

As one of Trump’s biggest competitors in 2016, Cruz was an early and frequent target of the rapidly rising candidate’s insults on the debate stage and what was then Twitter (now X). And Cruz responded in kind, calling him a “sniveling coward,” a “big, loud New York bully,” a “pathological liar” and more.

“He combines it with being a narcissist, a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever seen,” he said about Trump. “Donald Trump is such a narcissist that Barack Obama looks at him and says, ‘Dude, what’s your problem?’”

But now, the Texas senator wants you to know that the back-and-forth was all just primary politics.

6.     Kristi Noem

The South Dakota governor, cited among the right as one of the strongest female governors in the country, was skeptical about Trump’s first run for the presidency — especially when he began calling for a Muslim ban.

“He’s not my candidate,” Noem told a local radio station in 2015, when she was still in Congress. “People came to this country for religious freedom, so I believe his statement was un-American. And I don’t agree with it.”

Noem had originally endorsed Marco Rubio in his 2016 run, before backing Trump in the general.

In his 2024 run, Trump holds Noem’s “full and complete endorsement.” That’s not all: she’s also floated as one of the leading contenders to become his vice president.

7.     Kari Lake

Once upon a time in 2017, the hard-charging, election-denying gubernatorial candidate turned moderating Senate candidate shared a meme on her Facebook page that depicted Trump as “not my president” around the time of his inauguration.

"Will you be protesting the inauguration?” she wrote. “If so, which of these suggestions will you adopt? Will you boycott TV coverage? Wear black? Donate money the ACLU, NAACP or Planned Parenthood? Use the hashtag #NotMyPresident? Will you unfollow Donald Trump?"

For what it’s worth, Lake — who has openly said she voted for Obama and has donated to Democrats — has stated throughout her campaign that the message written from her former position as a news anchor, when she would ask questions on social media to engage audiences.