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President Donald Trump failed to keep a Republican primary clear for one of his MAGA allies in his home state of New York.

The president personally called attorney Bruce Blakeman, the county executive for Nassau County, to persuade him not to run in the GOP gubernatorial primary against Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), saying polling indicated she was the favorite to face off against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, but he entered the race anyway, reported New York Magazine.

“He’s great, and she’s great,” Trump said after Blakeman announced his candidacy. “They’re both great people.”

However, sources told the magazine that Trump believes Blakeman will lose the primary but doesn't want to publicly come out against him, and New York Republicans say the situation reminds them of the 2022 GOP primary, when Lee Zeldin had to spend much of his campaign money to win a fairly uncompetitive race before losing that November.

“He ran a hell of a race against Kathy Hochul, as close as anyone’s come in a generation,” said one New York Republican operative. “Can we say for sure that, if not for the primary, he wins? No, we can’t say that, but boy, he’d have had a better shot.”

Blakeman may not appear on the ballot unless he wins the support of 25 percent of attendees at the party’s February convention, where Stefanik will likely have many allies, or obtains 15,000 valid signatures from registered Republicans across the state.

Donald Trump erupted on Truth Social Tuesday night, accusing The New York Times of committing “sedition” and even “treason” for reporting on his apparent physical and cognitive decline. Fresh off a meandering Pennsylvania speech that drifted far from its billed focus on affordability, Trump insisted he is the “hardest-working” president in history and raged that any suggestion he’s “slowing up” is a deliberate lie. He attacked the outlet as “Enemies of the People” and said the country would be better off if it “ceased publication,” even as medical experts point to recent cognitive tests, MRIs, and visible physical changes as signs of his deteriorating health.

Watch the video below.

President rages at paper, calling health reporting 'seditious' and 'treasonous'