The Republican Arkansas governor spoke out on Sunday against a possible White House candidacy in 2024 for former President Donald Trump, again arguing that the former twice-impeachment president “should not define” the future of the Republican Party.
During an interview on CNN’s state of the UnionGovernor Asa Hutchinson was asked by host Dana Bash about Arkansas state senator Jim Hendren – who is Hutchinson’s nephew – announcing his departure from the Republican Party because of Trump’s incitement to the January 6 insurrectionary rebellion on U.S. Capitol Hill.
“It saddens me and it is certainly a warning sign for us that there are many out there who would like to see a more civil dialogue and so I have enormous respect for him – what he announced or what he is thinking there,” said Hutchinson .
Noting that Hutchinson had previously said that Trump cannot define the party in the future, the CNN anchor noted that the former president is scheduled to deliver his first post-White House speech at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference while actively encouraging the primary challenges for Republicans who do not embrace it.
“Did Trump manage to overthrow the Republican Party as you know it?” Bash asked himself out loud.
“He will only define the party if we leave,” replied Hutchinson. That’s why my voice is important. The voices of others are important in this debate and I think the CPAC can invite former President Trump to speak. ”
“He has a loud megaphone, but we have to have a lot of different voices and, in my opinion, we cannot let him define us for the future, because that would only further divide our country and harm our Republican Party,” he continued.
Bash, meanwhile, has finally raised the question of Trump sparking a 2024 run, asking the Arkansas governor if he would support Trump again.
“No, I wouldn’t,” said Hutchinson definitively. “It’s time and he has a good family. I worked with ivanka [Trump] and others and they love America. But I would not support him for re-election in 2024. ”
“He will have a voice, as former presidents do, but there are many voices in the party and, again, he must not define our future,” he concluded. “We need to define this for ourselves and it must be based on the principles that gave us strength in America.”
While Hutchinson and a few other Republicans spoke out against Trump as the face of the party and the Republican Party’s favorite in 2024, Republican voters see him overwhelmingly as the Trump party.
A recent Morning Consult poll reveals that 54% of Republican Party voters would support Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries. Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened by MAGA supporters in the Capitol riot, was a distant second place in the survey, with 12 percent. The same poll also shows that 59 percent of Republican voters want Trump to play a prominent role in the party going forward.