Fox news anchor Laura Ingraham has said the US may want to turn the page on Donald Trump and get someone who follows the former president’s policy – but is not him.
Calling the former president a friend of hers for 25 years, the prime time anchor said people conflate Mr Trump with a general overall sense of happiness in the US.
“The country I think is so exhausted, they’re exhausted by the battle, the constant battle, that they may believe that, well, maybe it’s time to turn the page if we can get someone who has all Trump’s policies, who’s not Trump. Right?” Ingraham said while speaking with Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe on her podcastThe Truth with Lisa Boothe on Monday.
She added that the “problem” is not really about Mr Trump but more about his views, which she said included calling out military failures and US-China ties during his administration.
She also said the Republican party does not warm up to his views.
“...it’s really not about Trump, right, this is about the views that Trump now brought to the floor for the Republican Party. They don’t like his views, they don’t like the fact that he called out the military for their failures, that he wanted us to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, that he wanted to treat China and our trade relationship with China in a much… it was smarter, but much different way than the globalists preferred,” Ingraham said in the 32-minute long podcast.
In what appeared to be a criticism directed towards left-leaning individuals, liberals, and seemingly climate activists, Ingraham said people have condemned the “American way of life”.
“They think borders are immoral, they think owning big SUVs is immoral, they think eating too much beef is immoral, having air conditioning is immoral, these people think that the American way of life is immoral,” the television anchor said.
She added that the former president’s views of sending “all those illegal immigrants” back to Mexico under the “Remain in Mexico” policy were also not liked.
The Fox News anchor also named Florida governor Ron DeSantis as she counted the Republican frontrunners for the 2024 presidential polls, claiming the GOP could face staunch competition in which people may not want Mr Trump.
“...And it doesn’t really matter in the end, whether it’s Trump making a populist conservative points (sic) or whether it’s DeSantis or someone like him. They’re gonna come full bore against any Republican, even an establishment one,” Ingraham said.
“They saw what they did to [Mitt] Romney, Romney was a caricature of Thurston Howell III by the time they got done with him back in 2012,” she added, likening the senator to a character from the sitcom Gilligan’s Island after his failed run for president against Barack Obama.
“So yeah, Trump is a placeholder right now for the ire and fury of the left, but anyone who steps into that breach is gonna find the same… Find the same pain being thrust at him or her.”
The Fox News anchor has routinely expressed sympathy for the former president.
Ingraham was also worried about further violence after the Capitol riot in 6 January last year, according to a text message exchange between her and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows amid accusations that Fox News hosts acted as unofficial outside advisers to Mr Trump and his administration.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” Ingraham had written to Mr Meadows.
