GOP candidates 'don’t think they’ll have to beat Trump' because criminal prosecutions just might: CNN host



The list of GOP presidential candidates is getting longer and longer, as both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and United States Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) recently joined the growing field announcing their bids within days of each other.

Some GOPers have made clear it's time to move on from former President Donald Trump, while others continue to ride the MAGA train.

CNN host Michael Smerconish asserted during a segment of his show, Smerconish, Saturday, that "perhaps the primary field is so large because" other GOP candidates are betting on Trump to face criminal prosecutions, Mediaite reports.

READ MORE: 'We lost some seats we should have won': Republicans scramble for 'quality' candidates ahead of 2024

"Why are so many Republican candidates now challenging Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination? Think about it," Smerconish told his viewers. "He's a former president, essentially a GOP incumbent who's consistently polling around 50% of the GOP vote in the polls."

The host continued, "And we learned in 2016 that given the hardcore support that Trump enjoys from some, he's the beneficiary of a large field. Remember, in that cycle, there were so many running that debates, they had a kids table. This time Trump announced first and then Nikki Haley and then Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson, Tim Scott, and now Ron DeSantis, who, by the way, is only 44 years old. By Biden-Trump standards, he’s got three more decades to run for president."

Smerconish asked, "So why run now? Why get into the steel cage with a wrestler who always carries a foreign object? Mike Pence said he'll soon make a decision. Chris Christie sure sounds like a candidate. Sununu might get in. Even Glenn Youngkin, according to Axios, is taking a second look. So what's going on? Maybe that they don't think they'll have to beat Trump, that that work will be done by a combination of Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Jack Smith, and Merrick Garland."

READ MORE: 'We like to be courted': Iowa GOP 'pretty open' to 2024 candidates besides Trump and DeSantis

Watch the video at Mediaite or at this link.

READ MORE: 'I did a book': Nikki Haley flops trying to differentiate herself from 2024 candidates



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