Arkansas’ Republican governor on Sunday came out against a possible 2024 run for former President Donald Trump in the White House, again arguing that the twice-impeached ex-president “should not determine” the future of the Republican Party.
During an interview on CNNs State of the UnionGov. Asa Hutchinson was asked by host Dana Bash about Arkansas State Senator Jim Hendren – who is Hutchinson’s cousin – who announced his departure from the GOP because of Trump’s instigation of the January 6 uprising at the Capitol.
“It makes me sad and certainly a warning to us that there are many who would like to see more citizens’ dialogue and that is why I have a tremendous amount of respect for his – what he announced or what he thinks there,” said Hutchinson.
Noting that Hutchinson had previously said Trump cannot determine which party will move forward, CNN’s 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 he actively challenges the primary challenges of Republicans who do not embrace him.
“Has Trump managed to bring down the Republican Party as you know it?” Bash wondered aloud.
“He will only rule the party if we let him,” Hutchinson replied. That’s why my vote is important. The voices of others are important in this debate and I think it’s fine for CPAC to invite former President Trump to speak. “
“He has a loud megaphone, but we need to have a lot of different voices and I don’t think we can let him define us for the future because that would only further divide our country and it would hurt our Republican Party,” he continued.
Bash, meanwhile, finally raised the question of whether Trump was teasing a 2024 run and asked the Arkansas governor if he would ever support Trump again.
“No, I wouldn’t,” Hutchinson stated firmly. “It’s time and he has a good family. I have worked with Ivanka [Trump] and others and they love America. But I wouldn’t support him for reelection in 2024. “
“He will have a vote, as former presidents do, but there are a lot of votes in the party and again, he should not determine our future,” he concluded. “We have to define it for ourselves and it has to be based on the principles that gave us the strength in America.”
While Hutchinson and some other Republicans oppose Trump as the face of the party and the leader of the GOP in 2024, Republican voters overwhelmingly see it as Trump’s party.
A recent Morning Consult poll reveals that 54 percent of GOP voters would back Trump in a Republican primary in 2024. Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened by MAGA supporters in the Capitol riot, placed a distant second in the poll by 12 percent. The same poll also found that 59 percent of Republican voters want Trump to play a prominent role in the party in the future.