Larry Hogan delivered thoughts on the 2024 presidential race and former President Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley in an interview with ‘PBS Firing Line’ host Margaret Hoover.
“There’s a lot of the things that a lot of the candidates are talking about sound completely foreign to me. It doesn’t sound like the party that I’ve spent my life in,” Hogan told Hoover.
“I think the Republican Party would be successful if we can find a candidate with a kind of more positive, more hopeful vision for America and someone that can appeal to people outside the Republican base,” he said. “I think DeSantis is really well-positioned to capture the Trump base, but I’m not yet convinced he’s the best one for us to win. We’re not going to sweep the country with a 49-state majority like Ronald Reagan did in an overwhelming landslide popular vote unless we find a message that’s a little different.”
HOOVER: Donald Trump has intensified his attacks around Governor DeSantis, particularly this week. Is it possible that DeSantis will face the same fate that many of these Republican governors who have peaked early will face?
HOGAN: Well it certainly is possible. I mean–
HOOVER: Do you think it’s likely?
HOGAN: You know, history tends to repeat itself. And I just gave you multiple examples of it. So it’s possible. I think, I just, you know, DeSantis may prove himself and may do great, but I just think it’s too early to be saying he’s the anointed one. And I think he has yet to prove himself on the field. I mean, can he handle himself in a debate? Can answer questions from the media, that’s not Fox? You know, how does he do with meeting voters in New Hampshire and Iowa? I think that time will tell. We don’t know the answer to that yet.
HOOVER: This week DeSantis said protecting Ukraine is not a vital national interest.
HOGAN: I mean–
HOOVER: I mean, there’s a rising wing in the Republican Party that seems more neo-isolationist, noninterventionist. What is your sense of what that hearkens for the party and its position on foreign policy moving forward?
HOGAN: Well it’s not good, and I don’t agree with him. It goes back to what you were just talking about the basic tenets of the Republican policy, and, you know, Reagan’s ‘peace through strength,’ going back to where we used to stand up for our allies and stand up to our enemies. And now we have people in the party that don’t want to help, you know, defend the brave people of Ukraine who are standing up fighting for their freedom. And they’re sympathizing with Putin, who’s, you know, an aggressor. I don’t understand it. But it’s not conservative Republican policy, I can tell you that. Just like, you know, telling businesses that if they don’t agree with you, we’re going to put you out of business. I mean, that doesn’t seem like small government–
HOOVER: You’re referring to what he did with Disney.
HOGAN: Yeah. There’s a lot of the things that a lot of the candidates are talking about sound completely foreign to me. It doesn’t sound like the party that I’ve spent my life in.
HOOVER: When you think about an alternative to Donald Trump, is DeSantis the kind of candidate that you think the Republican Party needs in order to win?
HOGAN: I think the Republican Party would be successful if we can find a candidate with a kind of more positive, more hopeful vision for America and someone that can appeal to people outside the Republican base. I think DeSantis is really well-positioned to capture the Trump base, but I’m not yet convinced he’s the best one for us to win. We’re not going to sweep the country with a 49-state majority like Ronald Reagan did in an overwhelming landslide popular vote unless we find a message that’s a little different.
* This article was originally published here