The Republican governor of Arkansas acted on Sunday against a potential 2024 White House election for former president Donald Trump, again arguing that the twice-accused former president should not “define the future of the Republican Party.”
During an interview on CNN State of the Union, Governor Asa Hutchinson, was asked by host Dana Bash about Jim Hendren, the Arkansas senator, who is Hutchinson’s cousin.
‘It makes me sad and it’s definitely a warning sign to us that there are a lot of people out there who want a more civil conversation, and that’s why I have a lot of respect for his – what he announced or what he thinks there’, said Hutchinson.
The CNN anchor pointed out that Hutchinson had earlier said that Trump could not define the party going forward, and observed that the former president would give his first speech to the White House during next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, while primary challenges of Republicans not embracing him.
“Did Trump manage to take down the Republican Party as you know it?” Wonder Bash out loud.
“He will only define the party if we allow him,” Hutchinson replied. This is one reason why my voice is important. Others’ voices are important in this debate and I think it’s good that CPAC invites 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 can not allow him to define us for the future, because it will only further divide our country and it will harm our Republican Party,” he said. he continued.
Meanwhile, Bash finally teased the question about Trump in a 2024 run and asked the governor of Arkansas if he would ever support Trump again.
“No, I would not,” Hutchinson said emphatically. ‘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 the 2024 re-election. ”
“He will have a vote like former presidents, but there are many votes in the party, and again he should not determine our future,” he concluded. “We have to define it ourselves and it has to be based on the principles that have given us the power in America.”
While Hutchinson and some other Republicans are opposed to Trump being the face of the party and the forerunner of the 2024 GOP, Republican voters view it overwhelmingly as Trump’s party.
A recent poll by Morning Consult shows that 54 percent of GOP voters would support Trump in a 2024 Republican election. Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened by MAGA supporters during the riots in Capitol, placed a distant second place in the poll at 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.