After six of the eight Republican candidates raised their hand to show they’d support Donald Trump if he’s the Republican nominee, even if he's convicted, the two abstainers explained why Trump should be disqualified.
First up, Asa Hutchinson.
HUTCHINSON: I did not raise my hand because there's an important issue we as a party have to face. And over a year ago, I said that Donald Trump was morally disqualified from being president again, as a result of what happened on January 6th.
More people are understanding the importance of that, including conservative legal scholars, who says he may be disqualified under the 14th Amendment from being president again, as a result of the insurrection. This is something that could disqualify him under our rules, and under the Constitution.
It tells you everything you need to know about today’s GOP that Hutchinson was loudly booed for saying that.
Chris Christie had his turn. There’s little doubt he had pre-planned his remarks, despite claiming not to be giving a pre-canned speech. But it was decent of him to use his time to give Mike Pence credit.
CHRISTIE: Mike Pence stood for the Constitution. And he deserves not grudging credit, he deserves our thanks as Americans for putting his oath of office and the Constitution of the United States before personal, political and unfair pressure. And the argument that we need to have in this party, before we can move on to the issues that Ron talked about, is we have to dispense with the person who said that we need to suspend the Constitution to put forward his political career.
Christie got some cheers for saying that, though.
