How weird is this?
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who votes 94.7% with President Trump, is being challenged in the 2020 GOP primary by a businessman claiming that the Republican senator doesn’t support the White House enough.
But that challenger, Garland Tucker III of Raleigh, not only has a trail of anti-Trump statements, but his consultant, Carter Wrenn, also has a long list, including calling Trump “part whacko,” a “fool,” and a “blip.”
And in a race where loyalty to the president is the key issue, critics of Tucker and his team are collecting as many anti-Trump statements as they can and making sure others see them in an effort to undercut the challenger’s embrace of Trump.
Tucker entered the race by citing a Tillis decision to oppose the president’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Tillis eventually voted for it.
Garland Tucker announced his candidacy for the US Senate on the Sean Hannity show earlier today. Listen here: https://t.co/RWHE4UZn2h
— Garland Tucker (@tucker4ussenate) May 8, 2019
Tillis explained, as other Republicans also did, that he was concerned Trump was taking too much authority from Congress.
In a Washington Post opinion column, Tillis wrote of his decision, “President Trump has few bigger allies than me when it comes to supporting his vision of 21st-century border security.” But, he added, “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress. As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms,” he added.
Tucker saw an opening in the state where Trump edged Hillary Clinton by less than 4%.
He announced his bid on Sean Hannity’s show and has since won some support from other conservative media figures who support Trump.
Tillis challenged Tucker’s characterization that he’s anti-Trump, and now supporters are focusing on Wrenn, who also doubted and criticized the president during the 2016 election.
They have highlighted several comments in the blog co-written by Wrenn called Talking about Politics that hit Trump and suggested Clinton would win North Carolina in 2016.
In one post from July 3, 2015, he wrote:
“Good Lord — in three new polls Donald Trump is in second place in the Republican primary for President.
“Trump trails only Bush in New Hampshire; only Walker in Iowa; and only Bush nationally (Bush 19%; Trump 12%).
“Imagine standing in Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or Rand Paul’s shoes: You’ve sweated and strained and sacrificed and Republican voters have looked you over and decided the ‘Donald’s’ a stronger leader than you are and he’ll do a better job fixing the economy. You’re surely shaking your head telling yourself, This, too, will pass. But, at the same time, you can’t escape the suspicion some evil genie popped out of a bottle and spewed crazy-dust all over Republican voters. And you can’t help wondering whether the madness will pass.”
