Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan has now indicated that he believes that former President Donald Trump should not run for president again, and in making these comments, Hogan characterized at least part of Trump’s legacy as “failure.” Trump has yet to formally announce that he’s running for president again, although that’s the direction in which he seems to be heading. Hogan, who’s previously criticized Trump, commented to Fox News as follows regarding the possibility of another run by Trump for the presidency:
‘With America on the wrong path, the stakes are too high to double down on failure… My friend Governor Hutchinson is exactly right… As we’ve already proven in Maryland, the best path for Republican success is a big tent GOP focused on the future and common-sense conservative solutions.’
Hogan is the governor of a state that Joe Biden won in the 2020 presidential election by a margin of over 30 percent — and he is well-liked. A poll from late last year found that 74 percent of Maryland voters approved of the job that Hogan was doing in office, a number that is simply remarkable considering the current political climate. Notably, more Democrats than Republicans indicated approval of Hogan’s job performance, although a majority of Maryland Republicans were still on the governor’s side, per the poll. 77.9 percent of Democrats indicated that they approved of Hogan’s job performance, while 68.9 percent of Republicans said the same in the survey. These numbers show that Hogan is actually in a position to speak with legitimate authority — to an extent — about what politically works.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, contradicts Trump and tells CNN that Jan. 6 rioters should not be pardoned:
"The folks that were part of the riots and, frankly, the assault on the U.S. Capitol have to be held accountable. There's [the] rule of law."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 31, 2022
Over the weekend, as referenced by Hogan, Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson also expressed opposition to the prospect of another Trump presidency. As Hutchinson put it, he does “not believe Trump is the one to lead our party and our country again, as president,” adding: “I’ve made it clear: This is about the future. It’s not about the past elections… And, you know, the Republican Party has many different voices… And it’s important in this time to have those voices and they should be concentrating on this election cycle.” Trump remains obsessed with the last election, and the same can be said of certain allies of his. The ex-president, for instance, trumpeted his false claims of widespread election fraud while speaking before at least one rally just this month, and there’s no sign that he plans to stop pushing this nonsense anytime soon.
Trump uses language he knows caused the Jan 6 violence; suggests he’d pardon the Jan 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy; threatens prosecutors; and admits he was attempting to overturn the election.
He’d do it all again if given the chance.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 31, 2022
