This week, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary on his TBN program, arguing that Trump did more for the country than any other president in his lifetime.
Acknowledging that Trump is “far from perfect” and not as “articulate” and “engaging” as presidents like JFK or Ronald Reagan, Huckabee said no other president did more to steer the country away from “the insanity of socialist economics” and “insane policies” on the courts, the military, or energy.
While Trump has garnered several endorsements from pundits and former Republican officials, endorsements from Republicans on Capitol Hill have been slow in coming.
On Thursday, Politico reported that many Republicans on Capitol Hill are playing it close to the vest on whether they would endorse Trump’s third run for the White House.
Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford told Politico that while half of the GOP lawmakers he spoke to want the former president to win the party’s nomination in 2024, the other half want someone other than Trump at the top of the ballot.
He explained that the Republicans he spoke to are conservative, but they are also “dealing with personality” while trying to “figure out” where “we go as a nation.”
For his part, Lankford is remaining neutral in the GOP primary race. And according to Politico, Lankford is far from the only Republic lawmaker to choose neutrality.
Politico reports that most conservative lawmakers refuse to get dragged into the “brewing clash” between Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who, despite not officially in the race, is seen as Trump’s most formidable opponent.
The outlet spoke with over 40 Republican lawmakers, including 32 members of the House Freedom Caucus of which DeSantis was a founding member, and found that a shocking number of Trump’s “once ardent supporters” are staying quiet about whether they will back him in the GOP primary.
Given how few are willing to openly voice support for Trump, Politico suggests that Trump’s “power base” among GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill is already at its lowest point, long before DeSantis or any other possible GOP candidate has begun to “ramp up their outreach.”
