Fox’s Stuart Varney: Trump ‘losing iron grip’ on GOP

Fox Business host Stuart Varney blasted former President Trump, saying his time as the leader of the GOP is likely coming to an end and a loss by Herschel Walker in Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff election would essentially be Trump’s fault.

“There’s a lot at stake here, more than just a balance of power in the Senate. It’s about the state of the Republican Party and Trump’s role in it,” Varney said Tuesday of Georgia’s runoff contest. “He seems to be losing what used to be his iron grip on the GOP, and he still has a hard core of supporters who will follow them regardless, but many of the 74 million people who voted for him in 2020 have been turned off.”

Varney displayed on the screen for his audience on Fox Business a graphic that featured two dozen Republican candidates for office Trump backed in this year’s midterm elections who lost.

The midterm results have sparked a number of leading Republicans and conservative media critics, including prominent personalities on Fox News, to question Trump’s effectiveness as a political leader and float the idea of new leadership in the GOP.

It also comes as a number of conservative media properties owned by Rupert Murdoch, including the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, have heaped praise on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Varney specifically called out Trump for comments this week in which the former president suggested “terminating” parts of the Constitution as it relates to his unfounded claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

“That blows right into the Democrats’ hands,” Varney said. “He started walking back today, but the damage has been done.”