Trump Challenger Says He Underestimated Ex-President’s Hold Over Republican Base: ‘They Have Followed Him to the Ends of the Earth’

Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson told CNN on Wednesday that he had underestimated “the hold” former President Donald Trump has over much of the Republican base and that he was unsure how to break it.

Asked by CNN anchor Laura Coates whether there was “any underestimation” among Trump’s rivals “about his political strength and the scope of the base that supports him still,” and whether he had personally underestimated Trump, Hutchinson replied:

I don’t think I underestimated him, but the hold that he has and the loyalty of the base and how they’ve accepted everything that he’s said. They have followed him to the ends of the Earth, and it’s to their detriment, whenever you look at the fact that he has misled them, but there’s still that loyal bond there, and I don’t know what’s going to break it.

Hutchinson continued, “I acknowledge that he’s at a very high level, and you’ve got other candidates that are in single digits. We’ll see where this goes, but this is a fight for the soul of the Republican Party and the future of our country, and it’s a fight worth having.”

Hutchinson, who served as the governor of Arkansas between 2015 and 2023, is currently polling at just 0.6% in the Republican primary, according to RealClearPolitics’ poll average — a far cry from Trump at 53.9%, and even from distant candidates polling in the single digits.

Last month, Hutchinson was booed and heckled during a Turning Point USA’s Action Conference speech.

Watch above via CNN.

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