Asa Hutchinson says Donald Trump has 'played the victim' so much that his campaign manager could be Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
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- To recover his political popularity, Donald Trump has "played the victim," Asa Hutchinson said.
- Hutchinson told NBC News that Trump's followers "believe he's been picked on" amid the investigations he faces.
- Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, is also a GOP candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said former President Donald Trump has "played the victim" to win favor in the polls.
Hutchinson, also a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that despite Trump's resurgence in the polls after his flop in the 2022 midterms, it is still early in the campaign season.
"He was responsible for a lot of the failure and growth that we expected and wins in a number of different states. And so his numbers were down," Hutchinson said on Sunday. "Since then, his numbers have gone up because he's played the victim. People believe he's been picked on because of some prosecutions."
In April, Trump pled not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the investigation into his businesses by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Since then, Trump has launched a social media campaign against Bragg.
Hutchinson said Trump has been successful at rallying his base around his victimhood, giving the former president the leading spot among GOP candidates in the polls by double-digit percentage points – for now.
"I joke, in some ways, that his campaign manager is Alvin Bragg of New York City," Hutchinson said of Trump on Sunday. "That indictment caused those numbers to go up because they don't believe they're fair. This will settle out over time."
Trump faces several other investigations, including two by the federal government for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol riots, as well as his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
On Sunday, Hutchinson said Trump has a "moral responsibility" for the January 6 attack, though the Justice Department will have to decide if he has a criminal responsibility.
Hutchinson said he's focused on the 2024 elections and "persuading Americans that we need to go a different direction."