On Wednesday night, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was announcing via a campaign video that he's running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that in his opinion, Donald Trump is going to be the GOP nominee.
He also took a few decided swipes at President Joe Biden.
Wishing all GOP presidential candidates well, the Missouri senator — in Orlando for a faith and values-focused speech at the annual National Religious Broadcasters convention this week — said he feels Trump’s nomination is "inevitable," he told Fox News Digital in an interview.
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"And that's not against anybody else," Hawley said. "I just think that Trump is going to be the nominee and Biden's going to be the nominee of the other party."
He added, "And I can tell you I know where I am in that matchup."
Litigation and lawsuits are not hurting former president Trump, Hawley said. "Actually, I think the opposite," he said.
He continued, "I think, you know — Bragg, the Manhattan D.A., coming after him in what I think is a blatantly illegal manner — I think he's just consolidated his support."
The senator said, "I think he's going to be the nominee. It's going to be Trump and Biden — and I know where I'm going to be."
The challenge for the next president regardless of party is to "make America strong," said Hawley.
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"I mean, you look at what this president has done," he said. "Joe Biden has made us dependent on China. He's made China rich. He's made America poor."
Hawley continued, "We have seen blue-collar wages in this country decline, decline, decline. We see families unable to make ends meet."
He added, "We see the continued overwhelming surge of drugs into this country, crime that threatens our families."
The next president's challenge is going to be, "How do we build up this country?" said Hawley, noting border insecurities and crime, among other problems.
For those who might be wondering, Hawley said he has no plans to try for a position in a Republican administration.
"I hope that the people of Missouri will have me for another six years in the Senate," he said. "My term is up in 2024, so I'll be running for reelection then. I hope that they'll have me for another term."
The senator said that fighting daily battles with the current administration is "infuriating."
He said, "Day to day, it is infuriating to watch them allow record numbers of drugs across our borders that go straight into our children's hands and schools."
And "it is infuriating to watch them have children be smuggled across that border and sold into sex slavery," he said.
"It's infuriating to watch them trample on the conscience of this nation and on the religious liberty of Americans everywhere who thought we'd have an FBI that would try to put informants into churches in this nation," he added.
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"It’s such an assault on who we are as Americans."
Noting that sometimes it feels "overwhelming," he said he stands ready to "every day go and represent the people of my state, to stand tall for their principles and their values, no matter what the D.C. press or this establishment thinks of me."
Hawley also said, "I just think we will get through this. We're going to get through this presidency and we're going to have a chance to change course, hopefully soon."
Said Hawley, "Biden has intentionally tried to divide this country by calling half of the country — or more — fascists, calling them people who threaten our democracy."
He also said, "It used to be in America that we could have heated disagreements, but you didn't say that the other side was un-American and not fit to be citizens."
He added, "And this president does that on a daily basis."
He also said, "Frankly, I think for that reason alone, he is not fit to be president."
Hawley's newest book is "Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs."
