Donald Trump wasn't former Gov. Haley Barbour's first choice for a presidential nominee, but the veteran politician and Republican National Committee chairman said Tuesday that he's already voted for him as the better of the two choices over Hillary Clinton.
"My mama taught my brothers and me growing up that life is a series of choices," Barbour told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "If the choice is Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, I'm going to vote for Donald Trump every time. I don't know what Donald Trump is going to do on every issue by a long shot, but I do know what she's going to do. More government, more taxes, more regulation, more deficits, more debt."
That, the ex-Mississippi governor continued, would mean four more years of the Obama administration at a time when two-thirds of Americans are calling for change.
"Hillary Clinton being the candidate of change is like me being the spokesman for Weight Watchers," Barbour said. "I mean, it has no chance of any credibility."
There are still Republicans in the Never Trump camp, and Barbour said if they don't vote for the GOP nominee, they'll help make Clinton president.
"And again, we're going to have a continuation of the lurch to the left that we have had the last eight years," said Barbour. "There's a reason two-thirds of the American people think our country is going in the wrong direction.They look at the economy and jobs. They look at national security. They look at terrorism, they look at crime. They look at the national debt. It took us 230 years to get $10 trillion of federal debt. And in eight years, Obama has given us another $10 trillion or right at it. We can't continue to go in that direction. And that's why I made the choice I made."
Barbour, though, said he does believe Republicans will keep their congressional majorities, but it will be a challenge in the Senate, where there are 24 Republican seats and 10 Democratic seats up for grabs.
"Out of those seats, eight of those 24 Republican seats are in states Obama carried both times," said Barbour. "Our people are running very good campaigns. They have good records. [It's] really close."
He does think it's a tribute to the Senate candidates that they've made their campaigns about the Senate and policies rather than the presidential or gubernatorial races.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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