(NewsNation) — If former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty could talk to former President and GOP nominee Donald Trump, his message would be this:
“The target audience is persuadable voters in swing states. It’s six or eight states, it’s three or five percent of the voters. And what they care about right now, the vote-driving issues, (are) illegal immigration, inflation, crime, wokeness run amok. Focus on those things and you may well win this election,” Pawlenty told NewsNation.
“But if he’s going to bounce off the walls and get mad at the governor of Georgia over something that happened in the past or do just name calling – that’s not going to attract those swing voters in swing states.”
Like many other Republicans, Pawlenty says he wishes that Trump would spend more time on policy and purge his speeches of personal invective.
“After the convention he was supposed to give sort of a unity speech, and then he went off the teleprompter and got into all the grievances again,” said Pawlenty. “It sorta spoiled the idea of that post-assassination unity moment.”
Pawlenty admitted that he wasn’t a Trump backer during the primaries, and last year said that Trump was setting up the GOP for “likely defeat.”
“I do believe President Trump was not our strongest candidate … but that ship has sailed. If he could tighten it up a little bit and focus a little bit, he could win.”
Pawlenty also described his successor, current Minnesota Governor and Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Tim Walz as “Bernie Sanders in hunting gear.”
“He’s self-proclaimed as the most progressive governor in the country.”
