Tom Cotton: Trump Not GOP’s ‘Single Leader,’ We Have ‘Important Other Leaders’ Like Ron DeSantis, Brian Kemp

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) dismissed the notion during an interview over the weekend that the Republican Party has a single leader in former President Donald Trump, noting that the party has a few high-power governors that are stars.

Cotton made the remarks Sunday during an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan when asked if Trump should “remain the leader of the Republican Party.”

“When the party — when any party is out of power, as Republicans are now, we don’t have a single leader,” Cotton said. “The former president is obviously very popular with many of our voters. But we also have important other leaders as well, like some of those victors I just mentioned earlier, like Brian Kemp in Georgia, Ron DeSantis in Florida.”

“Last year, you had Glenn Youngkin have a great victory in a bluish Democratic state like Virginia,” he continued. “I hope to remain a leader in the United States Senate as well, in addition to people like some of those I just mentioned who were re-elected, like Tim Scott. So, when you’re in opposition, you don’t have a single leader. That won’t be the case until we’re through the ’24 nominating season, and we have — we have a new nominee.”

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we go now to Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who was a regular on the 2022 campaign trail boosting GOP candidates. He’s out with a new book called “Only the Strong,” and he joins us this morning from McLean, Virginia. Good morning to you, Senator. And on this Veterans Day weekend, I do want to thank you for your past military service.

SENATOR TOM COTTON: Well, thank you, Margaret. That’s kind of you, and thanks to all our veterans for their service in all of our nation’s wars.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me get to the story of the moment. Democrats faced historic headwinds. Eight out of 10 Americans said they felt it was out of control. Republicans had issues like economy and crime really break in their favor. President Biden has a low approval rating. How did Republicans end up with this complete disappointment?

SEN. COTTON: Well, Margaret, I wouldn’t say it was a complete disappointment. On the one hand, we had strong Republican leaders running on positive records of accomplishments who won very big victories. If you look at governors, like Ron DeSantis in Florida, Brian Kemp in Georgia, Mike DeWine in Ohio, Kim Reynolds in Iowa, Greg Abbott in Texas — we had senators with the same victories, like Marco Rubio in Florida, and Tim Scott in South Carolina, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. But on the other hand, obviously, we hoped that we would have won more seats. I think the lessons in our victories can be applied to some places where we came up a little bit short. We need to focus on serious substantive accomplishments and issues like crime, like our wide-open border, like addressing runaway inflation. Even in places where we came up a little bit short, like Lee Zeldin’s race for governor in New York, he performed very well compared to Republicans in recent elections, and he probably helped save the House of Representatives by bringing four new Republican Congressman-elect across the finish line in New York. I think we have lessons in the places we had victories that we can apply to places where we were disappointed.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure, but you lost the ballgame in the Senate. Karl Rove blamed candidate quality and specifically put the blame on former President Trump. He said, “Mr. Trump turned what should have been a referendum on Mr. Biden’s terrible record into a choice between himself and the current president. As in 2020, lots of voters chose Mr. Biden.” Should Mr. Trump remain the leader of the Republican Party?

SEN. COTTON: Well, Margaret, when the party — when any party is out of power, as Republicans are now, we don’t have a single leader. The former president is obviously very popular with many of our voters–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: He’s the center of gravity.

SEN. COTTON: But we also have important other leaders as well, like some of those victors I just mentioned earlier, like Brian Kemp in Georgia, Ron DeSantis in Florida. Last year, you had Glen Younkin have a great victory in a bluish democratic state like Virginia. I hope to remain a leader in the United States Senate as well, in addition to people like some of those I just mentioned who were reelected, like Tim Scott. So, when you’re in opposition, you don’t have a single leader. That won’t be the case until we’re through the ’24 nominating season, and we have- we have a new nominee.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You said you’re not going to run for president in 2024. The former president says he intends to announce he’s running on Tuesday.

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