Wisconsin Governor and Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker argued, “it’s time to start focusing on who the real opponent is in the general election, and that’s Hillary Clinton” and that the focus on Trump is “like watching a car accident instead of focusing on the direction we should be headed. That’s a sideshow out there” on Monday’s “America’s Newsroom” on the Fox News Channel.
Walker said, “We’d spent so much time (in the first primetime debate) talking about him — as the last month or so’s been talking about him. I said it’s time to start focusing on who the real opponent is in the general election, and that’s Hillary Clinton. I mean, think about it, Hillary Clinton measures success by how many people are dependent on the government. We should be measuring it by just the opposite, by how many people are no longer dependent on the government. She measures success in the economy by how much they grow Washington. We understand that you — it’s not about growing Washington, it’s about getting government out of the way to help people grow jobs and opportunity around the country. … when you think of foreign policy and safety, everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton has touched is more messed up today than before she and the president took office. We’ve actually got a plan to protect America and our children from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism.”
Walker continued, “the first ten minutes or so were a lot about the guy in middle and whether or not he’d run as a third party, and then some of the other things out there. I thought it was important to remind people that the real opponent wasn’t on that stage, the real opponent wasn’t in the earlier debate that you moderated so well, the real opponent, not just for Republicans, but I think for most of us in America, is Hillary Clinton. She would be awful as president, and we need to focus in on that. And I think I’m the best candidate, if you want someone who can fight and win and actually get results in a blue state, and do it without compromising principles, I am the best one to take on Hillary Clinton. I want to make that case going forward.”
He added that fellow candidate Marco Rubio’s statement that if he comments on everything Trump says, his campaign would be “consumed” is “totally right about that.” Walker continued, “for a lot of us, it’s like watching a car accident instead of focusing on the direction we should be headed. That’s a sideshow out there. I think most of us as candidates, at least I do, I want to be talking about how we make this country great again. We live — I love America. We live in a great country. We just need to acting like it again. And I think a lot of this — the overall media frenzy…is focusing on one person when we really should be talking about what we’re for, and what plans we have to make this country great again.” And that people should see what he’s for, not what he thinks about another candidate.
Walker also said of Trump, “I think he’s drowning just about everybody else out there. But, you know what, we’ve had to fight some pretty big battles. We had 100,000 protesters right here in the capital city I’m sitting in that tried to drown me out four years ago, and we didn’t back down, we stayed focused, we stayed consistent, we got the job done, and I think this’ll be a good test for us going into the general election is, we can show in the end, we’re not going to get distracted, we’re going to talk about what we’re for, not who we’re against and what we’re against. We’re going to talk about what we’re for to make this country again. We’re going to talk about reform, and growth, and safety, and lay out the details of how we’re going to make this country great again and how America is actually going to start leading again.”
Walker added of Trump’s statement on moderator Megyn Kelly, “the language that he’s using is absolutely inappropriate, not just for a presidential campaign, it’s inappropriate, period.”
Walker concluded the interview by saying that he hopes people see that he wants to focus on Hillary Clinton, not other GOP candidates from the debate and his record. And that there does need to be “more opportunity” to talk about what candidates are for, but that there are eight more debates, and that he will focus on what he’s for and his contrasts with Hillary Clinton.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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