Mark Sanford on FNC: "I believe I'll vote for President Trump"

Life comes at you fast, even in the GOP primary. Former governor and congressman and current Trump critic Mark Sanford tells FNC’s Bill Hemmer, “I believe I’ll vote for President Trump. It’s my default.”

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If you watched the joint interview on CNN Sunday morning with Mark Sanford and Joe Walsh, two of the three challengers of Trump in the GOP primary, you probably noticed that Sanford was far less strident than Walsh on the subject of impeachment. On State of the Union with Jake Tapper, Sanford was a voice of reason while Walsh went over the cliff. Sanford suggested censure instead of impeachment and to go slowly after taking a vote in the House. Walsh wants a more drastic approach and solution.

I don’t understand that, with all due respect Mark. This president deserves to be impeached. Nobody from the White House and no high level Republicans are on this show today because there’s nothing to defend. This president betrayed his country again this week. Would I vote if I were in Congress on the inquiry? There’s enough we know now to vote to impeach this president,” Walsh responded.

“Donald Trump is a traitor,” he continued. “When you look at traitor more broadly defined, this president betrayed our country again this week. It’s not the first time he did it. Excuse me. I don’t know that we should move forward incrementally. This president needs to be impeached.”

Sanford disagreed, saying “for people to step out and say he needs to be impeached is to actually diminish and discard what the very process that’s laid out by our Founding Fathers.”

When Tapper asked Sanford if he will vote for Trump in the 2020 election, he replied, “I don’t know.” “What I’ve said is I’m an issue guy.” So, the headlines read that Sanford didn’t know if he’d vote for Trump.

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That was Sunday, though, and this is Monday. In the Age of Trump, narratives change quickly. In a Monday morning interview on FNC with Bill Hemmer, Sanford stressed he is “an issues guy”. His reason for challenging Trump is all about fiscal issues. He’s trying to raise awareness on the debt and deficits and big spending. He says while Democrats aren’t talking about all of that, neither are Republicans. “I believe I’ll vote for President Trump. It’s my default. But, we’re at the front end of an impeachment inquiry and I don’t know where it goes. What I said was we ought to follow the process wherever it goes.” He said he does believe in the premise of innocent until proven guilty. That’s good to know because that is the opposite of how Democrats are conducting themselves.

He believes he’ll vote for Trump now.

Sanford calls Walsh’s stance that Trump is a traitor as “crazy stuff”. He recognizes that impeachment wouldn’t go anywhere in the Senate and if wrongdoing can be proven, his suggestion is to censure the president. “Impeachment is going nowhere.”

He predicts that all this activity concerning impeachment plays into Trump’s hands and will defeat Democrats in 2020. Sanford rightfully told Hemmer that in a battle of personalities, America’s Heartland will side with Trump over the far left zealots in Congress, such as Nadler and Pelosi.

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Sanford admits his primary challenge to Trump is a losing endeavor. He just wants to bring spending and debt to the forefront. He didn’t mention any lingering resentment toward Trump for endorsing his primary challenger during his last political campaign. I tend to think that had a lot to do with Sanford’s decision to primary Trump. He probably knows no one is very interested in what he has to say unless he’s making waves as an opponent of Trump. The anti-Trump media loves that. He’ll be jeopardizing future on-camera opportunities on cable television if he admits defeat and that he’ll be voting for Trump after all. Sanford simply admits what any honest Republican voter will agree with – a vote for a Republican presidential candidate is better than a Democrat candidate. He knows that any of the Democrat alternatives is unacceptable for a conservative voter.

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