GOP Gov. Larry Hogan Wrecks Trump in an Utterly Blistering Repudiation on CNN: ‘I’m Tired of Losing’ and ‘That’s All He’s Done’

 

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had a lot to get off his chest about former President Donald Trump‘s overt influence within the Republican Party during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.

Hogan, a moderate Republican who has been critical of Trump for years and leaves office in January, appeared on the show with co-anchor Dana Bash to discuss the Republican Party’s largely dismal performance in the 2022 midterm elections across the country. In Maryland, voters elected Democratic candidate Wes Moore to become the next governor over Republican candidate Dan Cox. Hogan, who could not run due to term limits, refused to endorse Cox and even pledged not to vote for him.

“You’ve kind of been on an island, maybe a few others are with you, as a Republican warning against GOP extremism and specifically election denialism. How do you interpret the results?” Bash opened the segment with Hogan.

“I’ve been talking about this for years,” Hogan said, claiming the midterms “should have been one of the biggest waves we’ve ever had,” based on President Joe Biden‘s “historically” low approval rating.

“More than 70 percent of the people thought the country was going the wrong direction, and yet we still didn’t perform,” he said. “I think common sense conservatives that focused on talking about issues people cared about, like the economy and crime and education, they did win. But people who tried to re-litigate the 2020 election and focused on conspiracy theories and talked about things the voters didn’t care about, they were almost university rejected.”

Hogan went on to directly pin the disappointing results directly on Trump, stating, “I think it’s basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race. It’s like, three strikes and you’re out.”

Bash questioned if Republicans writ large would seriously be interested in rejecting Trump. “We’ve heard that after one strike and two strikes,” she said, continuing his analogy.

“That’s the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Hogan responded. “Donald Trump, he kept saying, ‘we’re going to be winning so much, we’ll get tired of winning.’ I’m tired of losing. That’s all he’s done.”

Hogan emphasized that losing so many races to Democrats, who he referred to as “not that great of a team,” is a failure that should have Republicans reassessing how they can “appeal to a broader group of voters.”

From there, Bash pivoted to asking more directly about Donald Trump, discussing his potential plans to announce his candidacy for president in 2024. “Former President trump is teasing very big announcement on Tuesday night,” she said.

Huge,” Hogan replied, using one of Trump’s favorite adjectives.

When Bash asked what could happen after Trump announces, Hogan pointedly said, “I think it would be a mistake. As I mentioned, Trump has cost us the last three elections, I don’t want to see it happen a fourth time.”

Bash followed up by asking, “If he does announce, could he cost Republicans the runoff in Georgia?” referring to Herschel Walker‘s upcoming rematch with Sen. Raphael Warnock for his seat in the Senate.

“No question about that,” Hogan answered, although he noted that the race is “not as consequential now,” because the Republicans will be unable to gain majority control of the Senate. “And that’s Donald Trump’s fault,” he emphasized.

Bash also asked Hogan about a post Trump made on his site Truth Social. In the post, Trump referred to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin as “Young Kin,” and remarked that the name “Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?”

Hogan called it “definitely distasteful and inappropriate,” and also said it was racist when asked directly by Bash.

“He didn’t even have his nationalities right, because ‘Young Kin’ would be Korean as opposed to Chinese,” he added. “It’s more of the same from Donald Trump, insults and attacks and… that’s one of the reasons why the party’s in bad shape.”

When asked if Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would make a good president, Hogan acknowledged it was “a good night for him” and called him “one of the important voices for the party.” Hogan has recently criticized DeSantis for his “performative politics” after he flew migrants to Washington, D.C. as part of a coordinated effort along with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

When asked about his own prospects as a presidential candidate in 2024, Hogan cautiously said he’ll consider it after an array of events in the coming weeks, including with former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“I still have to do my day job until January 18,” he noted.

Bash replied “you can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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