Hutchinson: ‘Trump has taken us back to bitterness’

Former Arkansas governor and 2024 presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson (R) says former President Trump has “taken us back to bitterness,” urging the GOP to move on as Trump campaigns for another White House term.

“Why does the party need to move on from Donald Trump?” NBC News correspondent Vaughn Hillyard asked Hutchinson in an interview that aired Tuesday.

“Because Donald Trump has taken us back to bitterness. He’s taken us back to what’s a personal vendetta. Whenever you look at what he wants to do as president, it’s more about getting even with his political enemies than leading our country, and that concerns me,” Hutchinson said. 

“And also, we wanna win. And the fact is that nobody wants a Biden-Trump race again,” he added. “Trump lost to Biden, and Biden hasn’t led as well. We need a change in that, but if we repeat what we did in 2020, we will lose again. So we need to have new leadership,” Hutchinson said, pitching himself as that alternative. 

Hutchinson kicked off his 2024 campaign earlier this month.

Trump announced just after the November midterms — and President Biden hasn’t officially launched a bid, though he said he intends to. 

The former Arkansas governor joins Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in the Republican ring, though others, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, are expected to join.  

“If you don’t say, ‘I’m different from Donald Trump, that I’m going to provide a different leadership than he does,’ then why are you in the race?” Hutchinson asked.