During an appearance on Thursday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) talked about presumptive GOP presidential nominee former President Donald Trump’s appearance on Capitol Hill and the positive response he got from Republican lawmakers.
According to the Missouri lawmaker, the reaction demonstrated that the so-called Republican establishment was dead.
“Senator, I know what people are saying, Laura, ‘Don’t get ahead of yourself,’ that we got a long way to go before the election,” host Laura Ingraham said. “But you met with Trump today. Tell us about the change in the air in the Capitol since all those dire predictions of Trump taking down the party, not rejuvenating it.”
“Well, talk about a triumphal return, Laura,” Hawley replied. “I mean, here he is meeting with the United States Senate, the Republican senators, and I just have to say I mean, a lot of people in that room had counted Trump out, had bashed Trump, had said they’d never support Trump. And here they all were giving him a standing ovation. Here they all were welcoming him as the party’s nominee. And the reason is, he has won overwhelmingly.”
“I mean, he returns as the nominee of the party who has dominated, dominated the party’s primaries,” he continued. “He is now dominating the race for president, and we can see why. His policies worked. Joe Biden’s didn’t. And the old Republican establishment, Laura, there’s just not much left of it. Voters hate it. Trump is beating it, and that is good for America.”
“Well, it was good to see Mitch McConnell,” Ingraham said. “We showed that clip earlier. They caught him on the way you know, walking in the hallway. And you know, he said, we shook hands twice and Mitt Romney was there. Can you give us any insights into what happened with Romney and Trump. Did you see any of the body language, any movement, any words?”
“You know, I didn’t see Trump and Romney interact, but I certainly did see Mitch and Trump interact,” Hawley responded. “And listen, I mean, this is a guy, let’s not forget, I mean Senator McConnell has refused to say Trump’s name for years, I mean, won’t speak it even. And there he was sitting at Trump’s right hand today, sitting right there on his right at the table. I mean, right at the head of the table and wanting to be there as Trump walked into the room, he’s just acknowledging reality, which is that the voters of this nation are choosing Trump.”
“Republican voters have already chosen him,” he added. “And there’s nothing left of the Republican establishment, the D.C. establishment, the war forever crowd, voters don’t want that. There’s no power left there. It’s all with Trump.”
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