On Trump, Hogan stays ‘speechless’
Governor declines to discuss whether party’s presumptive nominee is fit for the job
“Like I said, I’m not interested in talking about Donald Trump any further.” Gov. Larry Hogan
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan does not like being asked about Donald Trump.
When pressed on his position, Hogan has walked away from a television camera, abandoned a podium, declared himself “speechless” and derided as “stupid” the question of whether he’d campaign for his party’s presidential nominee.
On Thursday, he declined to say whether he thought Trump was fit for the presidency, saying instead: “I have nothing to do with Donald Trump.”
Hogan would not say whether he had decided to vote for Trump, who won 54 percent of Maryland’s Republican primary vote. Trump, meanwhile, told donors Thursday he plans to compete in Maryland during the general election, despite Democrats outnumbering Republicans 2-1 in the state.
Hogan’s among a handful of Republican governors who have not taken a position on their party’s presumptive nominee, and analysts said he can expect the questions to keep coming.
“I think the press would be not doing their job if they didn’t ask him,” said Todd Eberly, a political scientist at St. Mary’s College. “He’s going to be answering this question until the day after the election . ... I get the impression that we’re going to see a steady stream of Republicans around the country disassociating themselves from Trump, and that means that people like Hogan are going to continue to get the question.
“And it’s a nightmare for moderate Republicans in blue states to have Trump as the party’s standard bearer.”
On Wednesday evening, Hogan walked away from a television reporter who was asking the governor’s thoughts on Trump’s controversial comments about a Hispanic judge. Several Republican party leaders have condemned those comments as racist.
The moderate and popular Republican governor’s refusal to discuss any aspect of Trump’s candidacy has taken on an increasingly frustrated tone.
On Thursday, Hogan sidestepped a total of four questions about Trump and told reporters to Google what’s already been reported — that he has no plans to endorse or campaign for the man, and that he was not going to the Republican Party’s national convention in Cleveland.
“Like I said, I’m not interested in talking about Donald Trump any further,” Hogan said at an afternoon news conference about improving the state’s customer service.
“If you want, they have this new thing called Google. If you Googled it, you can find five months of comments. They’re all the same. I get the same questions every day. My answers are not going to change, so just Google it.”
In an interview on WBAL Radio’s “The C4 Show” Thursday morning, Hogan said: “If you want my answer about Donald Trump, you can Google it. It’s everywhere. They’ve got this new thing called Google. And I would suggest you and all your friends in the media just do that so I don’t have to keep repeating the same thing.”
Hogan told The Baltimore Sun on Feb. 26 that he had no plans to endorse in the primary race after his friend and political mentor, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, dropped out. Hogan made clear then that his support for Christie “did not translate” to Trump, whom Christie had endorsed that day.
Since then, Hogan has revealed that he didn’t have much nice to say about the billionaire real estate developer.
On March 25, he told the Associated Press: “I’m not a Trump fan. I don’t think he should be the nominee.”
After Trump declared himself the party’s presumptive nominee on April 26, the night he won Maryland’s primary and several others, Hogan walked away from a podium rather than answer a question about supporting the politician Republican voters in his state selected.
Later that same week, he answered a question about whether his position had changed now that the primary was over. “I said I was not going to get involved and I would not endorse any candidate, and that I was going to stay focused on Maryland.
“I get asked that almost every day, but I’ve been saying the same thing . ... I’m not going to take any more stupid questions about Donald Trump.”
Joe Cluster, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, said Hogan’s consistent responses about Trump send a message.
“It’s been pretty clear what his opinion is of Donald Trump,” Cluster said. “I think there’s a lot of Marylanders who agree with his opinion.”
Democrats point out that Hogan presents himself as a direct, straight shooter, except when it comes to his thoughts on Trump.
“It’s just not enough for Hogan to say that he won’t endorse Trump or attend the party’s convention,” said Charles Conner, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party. “He seems to have the ability to be direct on lots of other issues when it suits him.”