Republican presidential hopeful and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd ripped into former President Trump on Friday, calling him a “liar,” “loser” and “national security threat.”
Hurd, who has been sharply critical of the former president throughout his campaign, argued on PBS’ “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover” that the GOP needs to “be honest” about Trump if they want to win the 2024 presidential election.
“Donald Trump is a liar. Donald Trump is a loser. And Donald Trump is a national security threat to the United States of America,” Hurd said. “And we need to be honest about that. And if we nominate him, if the GOP nominates him, then we’re giving Joe Biden and Kamala Harris four more years.”
The former Texas congressman pointed to a recent event in Iowa, where he was booed by a crowd of Republicans after saying that Trump is “running for president to stay out of prison.”
“I was recently in Iowa and spoke at a group that had a lot of Donald Trump supporters, and I had to break the news to them that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election,” Hurd said. “Some folks were not happy with me being honest, but guess what, it had to be said.”
“If we can’t have these honest debates within the Republican Party, then we’re not going to be able to ensure that this trend that has been happening for the last 20 years, where a Republican has lost the national vote,…that shouldn’t be the case,” he added. “And it’s going to require us to be honest and look at ourselves.”
A Republican presidential candidate has not won the popular vote since the 2004 election. While Trump won the Electoral College vote in 2016, he did not win the popular vote.