Why Rick Santorum Is No Longer on the Sidelines
Three weeks ago, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said he was going to “sit on the sidelines” and not endorse presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but Tuesday, he said he changed his mind.
“You know, at this point, I sort of have made the decision after I ran myself and lost and endorsed another guy and lost,” Santorum told local Pennsylvania radio host Dom Giordano on May 4. “I don’t want to be a kiss of death for anybody at this point so I’m gonna sit on the sidelines.”
Tuesday night, however, he told FOX News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren he is now backing Trump “100 percent” because the Supreme Court has become the most important issue of the 2016 election. The presumptive GOP nominee’s Supreme Court “short list” released last week was one of several deciding factors.
“They are solid folks,” Santorum said. “They will preserve the Constitution, and that is the most important thing we can have in this election.”
And while he says he backs Trump fully, he still doesn’t approve of the way in which he is campaigning. He did note, however, the businessman’s “brash approach” has been working, so far, and he doesn’t expect it to change.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of good for discourse over the next several months, from either camp,” he said, referencing both Trump’s and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaigns. “I think maybe Americans want a little unvarnished, and I can’t say that I’m crazy about it.”
