In an interview broadcast on Sunday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee urged all Republicans to support President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, The Daily Beast reported.
Huckabee appeared on Fox News to discuss a recent report from The New York Times . The report alleged that many prominent Republicans — including Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former President George W. Bush — are hesitant to back Trump against former Vice President Joe Biden .
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, has reportedly not made up his mind yet. Republican Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida is open to voting for Biden. It remains unclear who former Republican House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner will support in November. According to the publication’s sources, Cindy McCain, the widow of late Sen. John McCain, will not back Trump in the 2020 election. Huckabee revealed what his response would be if the claims made by the NYT turn out to be true.
“I’m going to be not just unhappy, I’m going to be livid.”
The former Arkansas governor said that many conservatives “didn’t all agree on some of the policies of Bush or McCain or Romney,” but nevertheless supported their Republican colleagues, because the alternative was always a “far-left liberal.”
Huckabee then went on to list what he suggested are some of Trump’s greatest accomplishments, arguing that the president has been great on issues such as abortion, immigration, taxation, and foreign policy. Unless Republicans back Trump, he said, “they’re going to get Joe Biden, who isn’t pro-life, who is for higher taxes, open borders, he’s going to succumb to China.”
“Everything that we find disgusting he’s going to embrace it, including the socialists out here.”
The former governor concluded that Republicans who don’t like Trump’s personality need to “get over it” and support him in November.
“This isn’t Hollywood. This is the rough, tumble world of politics. And maybe he’s not as genteel as some of us would like. But, by gosh, he’s getting the job done.”
As The Daily Beast noted, some prominent Republicans have already endorsed Biden. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who served in the Bush White House, formally endorsed the Democrat on Sunday, saying that Trump’s rhetoric is “dangerous for our democracy.”
It is not only prominent Republicans who have voiced their opposition to Trump. Retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré — who handled the military response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — recently criticized Republicans on Capitol Hill for not standing up to Trump amid protests over George Floyd’s death.
Honoré was among the signatories of a letter signed by more than 200 former military leaders and diplomats. The officials condemned Trump’s handling of the response to the protests, saying that American protesters must be allowed to exercise their right to free speech.
