Will Hurd, a Republican running for the party’s presidential nomination for 2024, ended a speech he gave this weekend at an Iowa conservative event by insisting Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of prison. Trump already faces dozens of charges of felony criminal conduct across two cases and is expected to be hit with multiple additional cases relating to attempts after the last presidential race to keep him in power despite his documented loss.
Hurd is a former Congressman. Trump himself appeared at the same event where Hurd participated, with the former president walking onstage to a song that happened to feature lyrics about potentially going to prison, delivering an unintended gaffe that quickly spread across the internet.
“One of the things we need in our elected leaders — for them to tell the truth even if it’s unpopular,” Hurd told the assembled crowd. “Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison.” The crowd subsequently began to boo. Hurd argued, though, that Trump was unable to win the general election in 2024, which is a concern that other prominent Republicans, like leading Senators, have expressed. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has argued for Republican Party donors to be prepared to pressure low-performing candidates out of the primary to help ensure the anti-Trump vote isn’t irretrievably split.
As Hurd left the stage, some cheers were audible in addition to the jeers. Hurd is not performing very highly in polling from the primary, finishing with what was reported as zero percent of the support in a recent survey from YouGov and The Economist.
GOP Presidential Candidate Will Hurd tells it like it is:
“Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again— Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison.” pic.twitter.com/br1ryu7x89
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) July 29, 2023
