Trump Says Democrats Tried to Stage 'a Coup' Against Him

Former President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for some of the fatigue that voters experienced during his administration, arguing he had to fight back hard or he would have been removed from office.

Trump built his campaign and presidency on the concept of "draining the swamp," in reference to career politicians in Washington, D.C. During the former president's interview with Newsmax that aired on Tuesday, host Rob Schmitt acknowledged that many people backed Trump's mission of fighting the "swamp," but said the Trump presidency exhausted them because of all of the battles the then-commander-in-chief waged.

Trump initially pushed back on the statement, arguing that people are now "more exhausted" with President Joe Biden. The former president then turned to defend his time in office, noting that he had to address accusations that his campaign colluded with Russia to help him win the 2016 election and Democrat-led pushes to impeach him.

"We had no choice, otherwise we wouldn't have been there," he told Schmitt. "They were staging a coup, they were trying to get us out of office."

Democrats' first attempt to impeach Trump came in December 2017, but it failed with a vote of 58 to 364. After Democrats gained the majority in the 2018 midterms, the House launched multiple investigations, although Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi resisted calls to impeach.

Pelosi didn't announce the formal impeachment investigation into Trump until September 2019, with the House successfully impeaching the then-president in December of that year. The Senate voted not to convict Trump.

Shortly before leaving office, Trump was impeached for a second time. However, moves to convict him again failed in the Senate.

Despite fighting investigations and impeachment efforts, Trump maintained that he was the most effective president in history and lauded his accomplishments with starting the Space Force and tax reform.

Since leaving the Oval Office, Trump has been a vocal critic of Biden, targeting him for the downturn in the economy, the ongoing pandemic, and the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. While Trump hasn't officially announced his candidacy for president in 2024, he's cited the Biden administration as a motivating factor over a potential run.

"Our country is going to hell and we're going to make American great again, again, I sort of say," Trump remarked during the Newsmax interview.

"And I smile, but there's nothing to smile about, because our country is going bad. We're not going to have a country much longer, if it keeps going. I don't think any president has done this damage."

Along with domestic issues, Trump has blamed Biden for international conflicts. The former president told host Schmitt that he believes Russia will "make a move" on Ukraine, although it's unlikely to happen until after the Winter Olympics. While it may not be a military invasion, Trump said at a "minimum" he believes Russia will "negotiate a lot of good stuff."

Trump said that the current U.S. tensions with Russia would have never happened if he was president because Russian President Vladimir Putin is capitalizing on Biden's weakness. He told Schmitt that Putin doesn't "respect" America's leadership or the country as a whole, and called the post-Olympic period a "very interesting period of time."

Trump's approach of contrasting himself with Biden has helped rally his base as he gears up for the 2022 midterms. He has vowed to help certain Republicans win their campaigns in the hopes of the GOP retaking control of Congress.