2024 hopeful Asa Hutchinson blames TRUMP — not his bad polls and dwindling support — for being booed mercilessly at GOP youth event
- Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson was booed at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach on Sunday
- He is the most critical of former President Donald Trump of the 2024 GOP hopefuls
- Hutchinson rejected the boos and “TRUMP!” chants, saying those factions of his party were a “minority.”
Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson was fired while greeted with boos and “TRUMP!” chants at Sunday’s Turning Point Action Conference, claiming the ex-president’s supporters represented only a “minority” of his party.
Hutchinson, who polls around 1 percent nationwide, said he has already had a “breakaway moment” in that he was the first of 2024 GOP hopefuls to be openly critical of Trump.
During a Monday night interview on The Hill’s NewsNation program, host Leland Vittert asked the presidential hopeful how it felt to be rejected by the crowd at the conference in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Hutchinson said the response “reflects Trump’s stranglehold on a certain part of the party.”
“But what you saw in that audience were thousands of young people I spoke to and they listened,” he argued. “The boos you heard really came from some general admission tickets or the adults that were there.”
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson was met with boos and a “Trump!” chanting when he appeared at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida. He argued Monday that the pro-Trump crowd represented only a “minority” of the Republican Party
“So again, it’s the minority,” he said.
Nationally, Trump has the support of 53.7 percent of the party the polling average of Real Clear Politics — and won the conference’s straw poll with 85.7 percent support.
Hutchinson argued that his policy-heavy message resonated with the crowd.
“So I gave that message, and that’s important for me to be there and I loved the young people and their involvement and we’re having a good time hanging out with them after the event,” the former governor said.
Hutchinson argued that he still had a chance of becoming his party’s nominee because “this is the most unpredictable political environment in my life.”
“You have a president who is under investigation – President Biden – you have former President Trump who is indicted, you have a former vice president running against the former president on the same ticket and you have 12 candidates and you have a lot of outside factors, said Hutchinson.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Robert Hur to investigate whether Biden had mishandled classified documents after some were found in his former office and at his home in Wilmington.
Asa Hutchinson was booed at the Turning Point Action Conference on Sunday
Trump has been indicted on both state and federal charges in two separate cases.
On Tuesday, the ex-president announced that special counsel Jack Smith had informed him that he is a target in the January 6 grand jury investigation — what would be his third indictment since late March.
Hutchinson greeted that news by demanding that Trump drop out of the race.
“Anyone who truly loves this country and is willing to put it above themselves would immediately suspend their campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Hutchinson said. “It’s disappointing that Donald Trump is refusing to do that.”
Hutchinson also told Vittert that he was focusing on the first two games in Iowa and New Hampshire — and that he had already met the polling qualifications to make it to August’s GOP debate and was working to collect the number of backers required.