Ep. 530— Asa Hutchinson

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2023

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson recently announced he’s running for president in 2024. While Gov. Hutchinson has less name recognition than other Republican primary contenders—primarily\ Donald Trump—he hopes to draw a contrast between himself and other candidates by eschewing outrage and focusing instead on bringing back civility and traditional conservative values to the GOP. After serving in Congress and holding leadership roles at the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security, Gov. Hutchinson hopes his track record will speak for itself. Gov. Hutchinson joined David to talk about growing up in rural Arkansas, his stance on abortion, why he thinks improving mental health is the best way to combat gun violence, why he is critical of Alvin Bragg's prosecutorial judgement, and why he believes Trump can’t win in 2024.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host David Axelrod.
0:18.0	As Governor of Arkansas, Aisa Hutchinson signed one of the strictest abortion bans in the country.
0:24.0	He helped fashion the NRA's strategy after the Sandy Hook massacre.
0:28.0	So why does someone the right say he's not conservative enough to be president?
0:32.0	We talked about it on the Axe Files.
0:35.0	Music
0:43.0	Governor Hutchinson, it's really great to see you.
0:46.0	So happy to have you here on the podcast, but also at the Institute of Politics.
0:50.0	Well, David, I am delighted to be here and excited about our discussion today, but also meeting with students and talk about the future of our great country.
1:00.0	Yeah, well, let's talk about you.
1:02.0	There's plenty to talk about your candidacy and about contemporary politics.
1:08.0	But one of the things you have to overcome is nobody knows you outside of Arkansas. You're not well known.
1:14.0	So this is an opportunity for people to get to know you and for me to get to know you.
1:20.0	So tell me a little bit about, first of all, the Hutchinson family, how they got to Arkansas.
1:26.0	Tell me about your folks.
1:28.0	Well, that's a joy.
1:30.0	And, you know, my, I'm the youngest of six children in our family.
1:35.0	And my parents actually migrated from Oklahoma into Arkansas.
1:40.0	And at that time, I wasn't born. They had four children. And then my brother and I came along.
1:47.0	But what's important, I think, for people to understand is that I come from a very blue collar family.
1:53.0	My mom and dad had high school educations. They worked hard. My dad was a farmer, you know, poultry and cattle.
	...

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