Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan on Sunday said former President Trump is “toxic for the Republican Party and for the country.”
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Dana Bash asked Hogan if he agrees with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who said that Trump poses an ongoing threat to democracy.
Hogan responded by saying Trump is “toxic” for the GOP and the country, adding that the Republican Party will not win back control of the White House or Congress if it does not expand into a “big-tent party” and “appeal to a majority of people.”
“We’ve got to find a way to get the Republican Party back to the party of Lincoln and Reagan, get back to the more traditional big-tent party that can appeal to a majority of people. Otherwise we simply aren’t going to have control, we’re not going to get the White House back and we won’t have control of the House and the Senate,” Hogan said.
Hogan also weighed in on the ouster of Cheney from her House GOP leadership position, which he called a “mistake.” He said the Republican Party is “doubling down on failure” by removing Cheney from her role as House GOP Conference Chair.
“We’ve lost the White House, the House and the Senate over the past four years, and to continue to, you know, do the exact same thing and expect a different result is the definition of insanity,” Hogan said.
Cheney was ousted from her leadership post on Wednesday, after an increasing number of House Republican lawmakers became frustrated with her anti-Trump stance.
The caucus voted for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) to replace Cheney, a Trump sympathizer, as House GOP Conference Chair.
Hogan called Cheney a “solid conservative Republican.”
“I thought she just stood up and told the truth and said exactly what she thought. And to ostracize somebody, remove them from their leadership position, is crazy,” he added.
When asked by Bash if Cheney’s ouster sends a signal that people who have spoken out against the former president, including Cheney and Hogan, are not welcome in today’s Republican Party, Hogan said “it certainly appears to send that signal.”
He did, however, urge caution, telling Bash “this is very early in the fight.”
“I’ve said that this is a four-year battle for the soul of the Republican Party. We’ve got another election coming up next year in 2022,” he added.
Hogan also discussed the apparent downplaying of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Republican lawmakers in Congress. When asked by Bash why a number of elected officials are “lying about what happened that day,” Hogan called it “revisionist history.”
“Well, it’s definitely revisionist history and it’s crazy in my opinion,” Hogan said.
“Everybody saw exactly what happened and I was in the middle of that, as you say, we were getting desperate calls from the leaders of Congress who were under attack. And, you know, the Capitol Police were overwhelmed. We sent in the Maryland State Police and the Maryland National Guard that tried to put down the insurrection,” he added.
“And people to say that that didn’t happen, you know, it’s just nuts,” Hogan concluded.