Trump's interference in the 2022 midterms will 'only hurt Republicans': former GOP lawmaker

Appearing on CNN early Saturday morning former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) cautioned his former colleagues running for office in 2022 that they would be better off running their campaigns attacking President Joe Biden than running as acolytes of ousted former president Donald Trump.

Speaking with hosts Boris Sanchez and Christi Paul, the Pennsylvania Republican asserted that Trump is still too toxic to many voters -- Republicans included -- and should be avoided at all costs.

"A more recent poll by the Des Moines Register asked Republicans if they were more aligned with former president Trump or the GOP," host Paul remarked. "Look at these numbers. 26% said Trump. 61% said the GOP. We know Chris Christie has already said he would run against president Trump. There are questions with Ron DeSantis and what he's doing. How open do you think the door is? Is it cracked? Is it opened more for potentially another candidate in 2024?"

"Christi, I think the door is somewhat open, the question is will someone run through it," Dent explained. "To my Republican friends, I say 2020 and 2021 were very good years for Republican candidates who were not named Donald Trump. What part of Donald Trump's unpopularity aren't they seeing here."

"You look at what Glenn Youngkin just did in Virginia, where he clearly distanced himself from Donald Trump," he asserted. "And Republicans shouldn't delude themselves either. The reason why they're probably going to have a decent year in 2022 is because of President Joe Biden's sinking approval rating -- that's it."

"Now, to the extent they can make the election about Biden and the Democrats, all the better," he cautioned before adding the caveat, "To the extent Donald Trump injects himself into the conversation, that will only hurt Republicans. So Republicans are better off without Donald Trump more so than with him by far."

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