Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is “all in” to help all-but-official Republican presidential nominee defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the general election.
The former presidential candidate also called on fellow Republicans to abandon the “#NeverTrump” movement.
“Donald Trump will be the 2016 nominee, and I predict he will defeat Hillary Clinton and be the 45th president of the United States,” Huckabee wrote on his website Wednesday following Trump’s blowout win the Indiana primary and subsequent dropouts of rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. “I will be all in to help him defeat Hillary Clinton and I call upon all fellow Republicans to unite in defeating Hillary and abandoning and repudiating the hapless ‘Never Trump’ nonsense.”
Huckabee conceded that though Trump not similar to himself in numerous ways, he is still the best option to beat Clinton.
“Is Donald Trump as pro-life as me? No. Is he as solid on the marriage issue as me? No,” Huckabee said. “Does his position on Israel come from a deep conviction both politically and Biblically? No. But neither did Ted Cruz’s.”
Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses and ended his 2016 campaign after a disappointing Iowa caucus this year, said he withheld endorsing during the past few weeks “because it was the job of the voters to select the person they wanted more than me.”
“Ted Cruz ended his campaign and it’s time to end the strife in the party,” he wrote. “That can start today with our unifying around the people’s choice, Donald Trump.”
“I went into the race knowing Hillary better than the other 16 candidates. I left still knowing her better, but also knowing the other GOP candidates,” he said. “I’m convinced that Donald Trump is our best hope of turning the tide of the insider political nonsense that has left people seething and being able to defeat Hillary.”
