"Last time I checked, we picked our candidate by way of election, not selection," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Huckabee 'outraged' at Republican anti-Trumpism
One day after Donald Trump won seven states on Super Tuesday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee argued that those Republicans proclaiming they will not support Donald Trump need to become "team players" and have an "obligation" to be loyal to voters of the Republican Party.
Huckabee, who was speaking as part of the "Reflections on Running" series at Georgetown University, said he is "outraged" by Sen. Ben Sasse and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker — both made clear in recent days they will not support Trump if he wins the nomination
"I'm outraged that people would say those kinds of things for this reason: All of us who were presidential candidates on the Republican ticket were asked to essentially guarantee that we would support the nominee of the party," Huckabee said, bringing up the time when Trump himself signed the so-called "loyalty oath" and paraded it in front of reporters. "He pledged his allegiance, so did I."
"Frankly, I don't have any reason not to do that because — look, here's how parties work. The parties provide millions of dollars in infrastructure underpinning that if you run with a party label, you need to appreciate that there have been thousands and thousands of people who have gone to the committee meetings and paid their dues and that's the infrastructure under which you run," Huckabee said, digging in. "So you have a sense of, really, obligation I think to be loyal to the party and to its nominee."
"Last time I checked, we picked our candidate by way of election, not selection," Huckabee continued. "When I see these guys say, 'Well, I'm not going to support him. I'll support a third party,' here's my question: If Donald Trump or Mike Huckabee or Jeb Bush or anybody else has to pledge loyalty to the party, shouldn't the party pledge a loyalty to whoever the candidate is that's selected by the people, who actually went out and voted? Because if that's not going to happen, then we don't have a party."
The 2008 GOP runner-up elaborated further after the event, telling a few reporters that those "willing to march under" the GOP banner need to respect the voters wishes. Lately, Huckabee has been a public defender of Trump, especially in the wake of continued questioning about David Duke and whether he disavows his support.
"We work hard to elect Republicans, people who are willing to march under our banner, and there are a lot of Republicans I not only do not agree with 100 percent, but I feel like that we're team players. I just want them to be as well," Huckabee said. "They should respect that if we have a Republican process and we elect by votes of Republicans to nominate someone, then we should respect the people that voted. If we don't respect the people who voted, why should we respect them?"
A two-time presidential candidate, Huckabee is now being mentioned as a potential running mate for Trump if he were to secure the nomination. Recently, Huckabee's daughter — Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his former campaign manager — signed on as a senior adviser with the Trump campaign, but the former governor didn't entertain the thought much of a Trump/Huckabee ticket.
"Ask Trump. He makes that decision, I don't. I'm not sitting around thinking that that's likely to happen, but it's not my..." Huckabee said before moderator Mo Elleithee told him he wasn't ruling it out. "Nor am I ruling it in, because it's not my call to make."
"I like Donald Trump. We've had just cordial relationships, but there's been no reaching out," Huckabee told reporters afterwards. "I have a feeling they've not been doing that at all as it's a little premature for them, and certainly premature for me."
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