Hutchinson calls another Trump White House bid ‘worst scenario’ for Republicans

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said that another run by former President Trump for the White House is the “worst scenario” for the GOP as he considers his own run for the Republican presidential nomination in the new year. 

Hutchinson said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday that he would not rule out supporting Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee, but that such a situation is what President Biden would hope for, presuming he runs for a second term. 

“And that’s probably how he got elected the first time,” Hutchinson said, referring to Biden. “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 is just one of several prominent Republicans who are considering bids for the White House in 2024 despite the former president already jumping into the race last month to run for the Oval Office for a third time. 

Hutchinson and some other members of the GOP have called for the party to move on from Trump, especially in the aftermath of Republicans’ disappointing performance in the midterm elections last month. 

The president’s party has historically lost seats in Congress during the midterms, but Republicans failed to win control of the Senate and only narrowly won a majority in the House. Many candidates in key races that Trump endorsed during GOP primaries lost their elections. 

Hutchinson said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the party needs more voices of “reality” to move on from Trump and that he supports criticism the former president has received from Republicans like former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both of whom are considering their own runs. 

Hutchinson told AP that he is measuring how much financial backing he would have and will see the response to his message ahead of deciding whether to run. He said he has been reaching out to governors, members of Congress and evangelical leaders for advice on possibly running. 

He also slammed Trump’s recent statement calling for the “termination” of the election rules in the Constitution to overturn the results of the 2020 race, saying that any leader that calls for suspending the Constitution is “tearing at the fabric of our democracy.”