'Trump whisperer': Republicans are betting on this GOP senator’s ability to 'tamp down' ex-president
US Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), who worked on former President George H.W. Bush and Senator Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, is expected to play a pivotal role as the Donald "Trump whisperer" in a second MAGA administration, according to a Thursday, October 24 Politico report.
Although Hagerty "has morphed into a MAGA warrior since joining Trump’s transition team in 2016," Politico reports, the Tennessee lawmaker has "still maintained his standing with the GOP’s old-school core."
Considering his experience as a diplomat, the news outlet emphasizes that "mainstream Republicans and foreign diplomats are pinning their hopes" on the former US ambassador to Japan "to help tamp down" the ex-president's "most extreme impulses."
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Politico reports:
The Tennessee senator is already trying to demonstrate he’s up to the task. Hagerty on Wednesday went on CNN to defend Trump against the allegations that he had expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, saying the former president’s record in office 'debunks these claims.' He then pivoted to the economy, saying Trump 'had our economy working; people respected us; nations respected us; we had people better off in every demographic group.'
"He combines the experience of a diplomat with the business savvy of an entrepreneur, and a senator who understands how to get things done on the Hill," former Trump national security adviser turned-critic, retired Gen. H.R. McMaster, told the news outlet. "And he has relationships around the world that are relevant — whether it’s [for secretary of] Commerce, Treasury or State."
While McMaster believes Hagerty is needed alongside the potential next president of the United States, Politico reports, close allies to the senator "say the idea he would moderate Trump is misguided. While Hagerty has a 'very soothing way about him,' said Stephen Miller, Trump’s former senior adviser, 'he is as MAGA as MAGA can get.'"
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Miller added, "He has an amazing ability to disarm people to bring people together to find common ground. But I can tell you, if he was in any position to execute on a Trump policy, he would do that as vigorously and vociferously as the situation required."
Politico's full report is available here.
