Mike Huckabee, who is a former Arkansas Governor, said that former President Trump should “absolutely” not announce his 2024 presidential bid until after the midterms with the suggestion that it could signal a disaster for the GOP. “I think it would be a huge disaster and mistake if he were to announce this before the midterms. Because right now the focus needs to be solely and completely on getting Democrats out of control of the House and Senate and setting up for a much better situation going into 2024,” said Huckabee on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
WATCH video about Trump’s possible 2024 comeback:
Trump was encouraged by the top-level members of the Republican Party to delay announcing his candidacy until after the midterms. Many read that as Republicans fearing that a Trump announcement would upset the status quo of voters focused on inflation, gas prices and President Joe Biden’s low approval rating.
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is a House Minority Leader, said of his conversations with Trump: “My point to him has always been, ‘Let’s go win ’22,'” while also adding that he encouraged Trump to hold off on an announcement.
Earlier last month, Trump stated that he has already made up his mind on whether to run and that the main decision was whether he will announce before or after the midterms – although Trump has been very selective on his word choice and does not declare a solid yes or no about his plans for 2024 when making his hints.
Huckabee said that he believes Trump will run for another term in the White House, but should not cause any distractions during midterms. “To distract the American public from those elections in November, I think would be a huge mistake that could have disastrous consequences,” said Huckabee.
He also added that he would give the same advice to any candidate, not just the former president. “It’s like, you don’t take a date to your wife’s funeral. Make sure you let the whole thing play out and you do things in the proper order. It’s out of sequence to be planning the 2024 election before you have the 2022 election,” the former Arkansas Governor concluded.
