Senator John Hoeven Condemns Trump Comments but Doesn’t Withdraw Support

Here’s a statement sent out by Senator John Hoeven’s campaign today in response to the news of offensive comments from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump which broke yesterday.

Hoeven condemns the comments, but stops short of withdrawing his support from Trump:

Not exactly courageous. In fact, Hoeven’s reticence to withdraw his support from Trump is all the more astounding given that he doesn’t really have anything to lose by making a stand here. Hoeven is all but assured of a landslide victory in November over a weak placeholder challenger from the Democrats. It’s pretty obvious that he’s never been comfortable with Trump. So why not do the right thing and condemn the man?

This, from Twitter, rings true to me:

Meanwhile, Hoeven’s colleague from South Dakota has called for Trump to withdraw from the race:

Thune is just one of a growing list of Republican leaders who are pulling their support from Trump.

Congressman Kevin Cramer, undoubtedly Trump’s most outspoken proponent among our state’s elected leaders, has also condemned the comments but has not withdrawn his support from Trump.

Meanwhile, no word yet North Dakota’s other top Republicans. Governor Jack Dalrymple, who was named as an adviser to the Trump campaign earlier this year, has not made a statement on these latest comments yet. Neither has Dalrymple’s likely replacement, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Burgum, said a word.

Burgum, I should note, made a big deal of his support for Trump during his primary campaign against Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

Anyone else remember this?

Here’s Senator Heitkamp’s response to Trump’s comments: