Hutchinson: GOP needs a Trump off-ramp. Could he be it?
Gov. Asa Hutchinson hasn’t jumped as far into the political deep waters as U. S. Rep. Liz Cheney has, but he’s waded a lot farther than most Republican officeholders.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Hutchinson told host Bret Baier that he doesn’t believe former President Trump is “criminally responsible” for the riot at the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. However, he said Trump is “politically and morally responsible for much of what has happened.”
Hutchinson called the work by the select congressional committee investigating the riot “an important review.” He added that the American people don’t want to “focus on the past” and that Democrats are mistaken if they just “re- litigate what they did in the impeachment.”
Hutchinson could have stopped there. He’d already said a lot. He went further in response to a question about his own party. I’ll quote his answer in its entirety.
“Well, I hope that the future of the Republican Party is different than former President Trump’s leadership,” he said. “I hope we move in a different direction. I believe that what happened on Jan. 6 is a lot at his feet. It was wrong for our country, and for him to continue to push that theory, I agree is the wrong direction for the Republican Party.
“I think there’s many Republicans that are looking for an off- ramp, new opportunities to find leadership in the future. Obviously what President Trump, there’s a lot of things that he did that were very good, that the base and I agree with, but he got off track on Jan. 6, and that was a costly error for our democracy, and I agree with a lot of the comments. He has responsibility there. We need to make sure that’s clear.
“I think Republicans need to do a lot of soul searching as to what is the right thing here, what is the right thing to say for our party and our democracy and our future, and not simply appeal to the basis instincts of some of our base.”
Hutchinson’s comments put him at odds with more than just some of the base. In a survey conducted May 19- 22 by Yougov for Yahoo News, 63% of Republican and Republican- leaning voters agreed that “the election was rigged and stolen from Trump.”
The governor is term- limited and likely will be succeeded by Trump’s former press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He has said he is testing the waters for a presidential run. If so, he’d start the primary process on the opposite side of a lot of Republicans on this issue.
Cheney, one of only two Republican congresspersons serving on the committee investigating the riot, knows the dangers of opposing Trump better than anyone. A couple of polls have shown her trailing her Trump- backed challenger in her re- election campaign in Wyoming by roughly 30 points. Both polls were conducted by groups hostile to Cheney.
Trump is still overwhelmingly the most popular Republican in the party. Fifty- three percent of Republican voters said he was their choice for president in 2024 in a poll by Morning Consult for Politico conducted June 4- 5. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis was a distant second at 16%, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at 13%. Sen. Tom Cotton had 0%, while Hutchinson’s name wasn’t included in the survey.
Trump, who turned 76 on June 14, has not said if he will run again, but he seems to be leaning in that direction, and those poll numbers would encourage him to do so.
If Hutchinson, who is 71, runs, then he would have a difficult task in front of him. He’d have to convince a lot of people that, first, an off- ramp is needed from the Trump era, and, second, that he’s it.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@ mac. com. Follow him on Twitter at @ stevebrawner.