Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee argued that “a lot of the things” Donald Trump is saying ” are things that, in many ways, I’ve been saying those for eight years, before he was a Republican” on Saturday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.
Huckabee said that Trump has “struck a nerve with people,” and “I’ll be honest with you, a lot of the things that he’s saying, those are things that, in many ways, I’ve been saying those for eight years, before he was a Republican. Thing like talking about how China has cheated. Talking about how there is this Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that grinds out jobs against Americans. I mean, these are themes that I’ve been talking about. But, let me say this, if you put as much air in my balloon, not just you, but if all the media, will pump the air in my balloon, as has been pumped into Donald Trump’s balloon, I’ll be leading the pack as well.”
Huckabee added of Trump, “I think he’s a fascinating person. I mean here is a guy who is a billionaire, he’s running for president. He’s sort of unfiltered in a way that’s refreshing. He is the Bulworth of this campaign, that says things that a lot of people feel, and they feel it intensely. You can see that on the campaign trail. I think many of the candidates, not just me, I think many candidates are saying strong and bold things. But we probably have enough of a filter, because we realize that we’re going to have to confront many of the things that we say later on, not only in the debates, and in interviews, but if we are the nominee, and I hope I will be, then those are comments and tones that we’re going to have to defend in a national debate when we’re trying to go after Democratic and Independent voters.”
Huckabee concluded by discussing polls and pointing out that it’s hard to read anything into the polls given that at this time in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was the frontrunner. He continued, “a lot of it has to do about what the issues are are, how they change, and do people connect with personality. Do they feel like that person speaks, not just to them, but for them? This week, when the polls came out in the Gallup poll and had me at the top of favorability, that’s the number that our campaign keeps looking at, because when everything else is settled, people don’t vote for someone they don’t like.”
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