Scott Walker says Trump appeals to voters because he looks like how 'your uncle would look like if he won the lottery'

• Scott Walker says "Donald Trump looks like what your uncle would look like if he won the lottery."
• Walker spoke to journalist David Drucker for forthcoming book "In Trump's Shadow."

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says former President Donald Trump's authentic appearance propelled him to win over the GOP, telling journalist David Drucker that Trump "looks like how your uncle would look like if he won the lottery."

Walker, a short-lived member of the 17-candidate 2016 Republican presidential primary field, spoke to Drucker at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference for Drucker's forthcoming book "In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP."

Walker, as Drucker put it, "was an accomplished chief of executive with the battle scars from fights with all the right enemies to prove it," including surviving a recall election, but it "didn't save him from joining the long list of temperate, Reagan-era conservatives that Republican voters lost interest in."

"Many of those voters are people who felt forgotten," Walker said of those who supported Trump in states like Wisconsin. "They felt like they had somebody who was, maybe not out of central casting for president, in terms of how he acted, but who - despite some of those challenges - was looking out for them."

In the book, Drucker, a correspondent at the Washington Examiner, describes how Trump reshaped the GOP in his image and details the shadow race to succeed Trump as the Republican Party's standard-bearer.

Drucker also notes that Trump "had been squawking about his vision for the country since the least 19 80s," particularly with his views on trade, including his suspicion of major trade deals and view that other countries were "taking advantage" of the United States.

"I felt strongly about it - and it wasn't Republican," Trump told Drucker in an interview. "Basically, it was what I thought."

Drucker writes that framing Trump as "freezing" the 2024 field is "nonsense," saying: "Republican presidential hopefuls have been preparing to mount a 2024 campaign since virtually the day Trump assumed office."

The book's chapters dive deep in mapping out the strategies and painting the landscape surrounding potential 2024 presidential contenders including Sens. Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence.

But all contenders to succeed Trump will have to tread carefully, with much of their strategizing, fundraising, and alliance-building taking place behind the scenes.