According to a GOP strategist, the televised House select committee hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection are taking their toll on Donald Trump's reputation as a fighter.
During an appearance on CNN on Wednesday morning with co-host Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow, Doug Heye claimed the former president is still supported by his rabid followers despite evidence that he worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but he is losing the intimidation factor within the Republican Party after three weeks of hearings.
Speaking with the two CNN hosts, Heye suggested Trump is no longer the "alpha dog" of the GOP.
"Doug, as a Republican strategist, you speak to Republicans frequently, voters and officials. Is this wounding the former president's political prospects for 2024?" host Sciutto asked.
"It is," he replied. "And we know that it because we see angry responses from Trump, angry statements from Trump with the hearing last week, he responded 'I never even met this woman [Cassidy Hutchinson], I barely knew her,' things like this."
"We know that he is angry about it and we know that it is having an effect," he said before conceding, "It is not having a dramatic effect politically in the polls but what we're seeing is an erosion, a slow erosion of support that also gives a lot of Republicans candidates, potential candidates looking to run in 2024 more of a lane and avenue to do so and that is because of his weakened status right now."
"Look, he's still the alpha dog in the Republican Party, but less today than he was three or four weeks ago," he added.
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CNN 07 13 2022 09 08 19youtu.be
