Self-cannibalization is rampant within the Republican Party as feral colleagues increasingly turn on one another. While President Trump was flashing his fangs at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently, his budget chief was personally and openly attacking another member of Congress on Twitter.
But it’s cool though because the parties involved, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and Rep. Trey Gowdy, are South Carolina colleagues and total bros. For six years, Gowdy would grill congressional witnesses while Mulvaney crunched the budget numbers and eventually got the White House gig.
Because they’re so close, they let loose with some brutal trash talk on Twitter yesterday.
“Mick won’t even fund Meals on Wheels,” @TGowdySC tells me. “He surely isn’t going to pay for someone else’s haircut.” #DropsMic https://t.co/8kOtrxsmPL
— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 22, 2017
What do you get for someone on his 60th birthday? A razor and a comb.
Happy birthday, @TGowdySC. pic.twitter.com/ZNWaPHZl7c— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaneyOMB) August 22, 2017
Not everyone got the joke though. Amanda Gonzalez, who runs communications for Gowdy, had to explain to plenty of breathless reporters yesterday that the back-and-forth wasn’t some sign of rising tensions. “They’re more like brothers than former colleagues or just friends,” she explained to the Washington Examiner.
Since there seems to be some confusion, particularly among those in the media… this is 100 percent a JOKE. https://t.co/vo5aR4v6KW
— Amanda Gonzalez (@amandag0nzalez) August 23, 2017
A quick Google search would’ve shown that the pair get along pretty well. Back in 2012, GQ dubbed Gowdy and Mulvaney along with Rep. Jeff Duncan and Sen. Tim Scott “the Four Horseman of South Carolina.” They all hang out, grab dinner, and joke around. You know, like totally normal people who just happen to be federal officials legislating, politicking, and jockeying for influence.
That friendship actually helped Mulvaney prepare for his confirmation hearings. To prepare his colleague for his Senate grilling, sources say Gowdy impersonated Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., giving a caricature of democratic-socialism albeit with a southern accent.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
