Donald Trump has been making a lot of headlines lately, and now even members of his own party are talking out against him as Asa Hutchinson, Republican Governor for Arkansas, has said that a third Trump bid for the White House would be the “worst scenario” for the Republican Party, and “almost the scenario that Biden wishes for.” Wow!
Hutchinson On The GOP’s Future
“And that’s probably how [Biden] got elected the first time,” Hutchinson, whose term as Governor ends in January 2023 after serving eight years, said in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, December 13th. “It became, you know, a binary choice for the American people between the challenges that we saw in the Trump presidency, particularly the closing days, versus Biden, who he made it that choice.”
Hutchinson also condemned Trump’s recent statement calling for terminating parts of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election, calling it “so out of line and out of step with America that it almost does not deserve a response.” “It hurts our country,” he added. “I mean, any leader, former president that says suspend the Constitution is tearing at the fabric of our democracy. And so we want to make sure that the people know that it’s Republicans that support the rule of law.”
Opposition To Trump For 2024 Republican Candidacy
In the interview, Hutchinson also went on to say that he plans to make a decision early next year on whether to put in a bid for the Republican Presidential nomination. We know how opposed he is to Trump running for president again, having stated to CNN in 2021: "I would not support him for re-election in 2024." Hutchinson had previously supported a potential Trump bid for re-election, however this changed after the events of the Jan 6 insurrection.
WATCH: Gov. @AsaHutchinson (R-Ark.) says he'll decide whether to run for president in 2024 in the "first part of next year."
"The fact that President Trump has already announced accelerates everyone's timeframe. The first quarter of next year — you either need to be in or out." pic.twitter.com/9ltHKlDYWR
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 18, 2022
"He will only define our party if we let him define our party," Hutchinson said in an appearance on CNN's State of the Union in 2021. "He has a loud megaphone, but we have to have many different voices," the Governor continued, "and in my view we can't let him define us for the future because that would just further divide our country and it would hurt our Republican Party."
Hutchinson is part of a growing group of Republicans eyeing a run at the White House, including Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Mike Pompeo, and former VP Mike Pence, who sense the need for change following last month’s midterm elections. Trump, who announced his bid for the presidency in November, has been blamed by some for the GOP’s lackluster performance by backing candidates and issues that didn’t resonate with voters.
"The midterm elections made it clear to me that the GOP needs a bold agenda, but also new voices that's articulating what our party stands for, the direction we want to take our country," Hutchinson said in the recent interview. "We're very disappointed that because of poor candidates, poor messaging, looking back instead of looking forward, we didn't do as well as we should have in the midterm election."
