WASHINGTON ― Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) announced that he will not support donald trump in the 2024 Republican presidential race, one day after a controversial CNN town hall where the former president repeated electoral lies, mocked a woman who accused him of sexual assault and refused to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.
“You want a candidate to win the general election. As President Trump says, I prefer winners,” Young told HuffPost on Thursday when asked about Trump’s attitude. performance in it CNN event in New Hampshire. “He loses constantly. In fact, he has a habit of losing not only his own choices, but also those of others.
“I can’t think of anyone worse equipped to bring people together to pass laws and promote our collective values than the former president,” the senator added. “I don’t think conservatives would do well to elect someone whose main competition seems to be owning someone on Twitter.”
Young, a former US Marine known for working on the other side of the altar, won a second term in 2022 despite not having Trump’s endorsement, after he said the former president was responsible for the The January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol will not face voters again until 2028, giving him a degree of isolation from Trump supporters who may not like his comments.
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Still, it’s remarkable to see a Republican senator come out strongly against Trump at a time when many of his colleagues, including members of the Senate Republican Party leadership, are willing to do no more than avert their gaze in response to the latest controversy involving the twice impeached former president. Trump leads the 2024 Republican race polls by a wide margin and is currently on pace to win the nomination despite his many legal issues.
Young served in the Republican leadership as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2018 cycle. He has been an outspoken critic of Trump, arguing that the former president is the reason his party lost the Senate in 2020 and lost ground in 2022.
Would Young support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee in 2024 and the election is between Trump and President Joe Biden? The Indiana Republican declined to say.
“I don’t think he’s the nominee. The Republicans are in a winning mood. we want to win. We know it’s the shortest way to lose,” Young said.
He also flatly rejected the idea of running for president.
No Republicans followed Young’s lead Thursday, for the most part ignoring questions about the CNN town hall. Senator John Thune (SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters “It seemed like a lot of Democratic campaign ads were written last night,” suggesting that Trump hurt his chances of being president again.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a vocal critic of Trump, also said that the city council “probably did a service to the country, to see it without strings attached.”
“I think it’s helpful for people to see exactly what they would get with another Trump presidency,” Romney said. “I think the fact that he didn’t go to the center of the country, but he appealed to his base, that’s exactly what you’re going to get.”
