Monkey Business Report: Trump Endorsements
The Donald got on the phone for Renee Ellmers in the 2nd district. Now, it appears that at least Charlotte-area politicians want in on some of that action. But, there is a problem:
Charlotte Republican Robert Pittenger bungled questions around two high-profile endorsements Monday, one day before the Republican primary in the 9th Congressional District.
Locked in an unpredictable race against Mark Harris and Todd Johnson, Pittenger claimed Donald Trump endorsed him when Trump might not have, and he said he was not claiming Mike Huckabee’s endorsement when in fact he was.
First, Trump:
Pittenger sent an email blast Monday morning claiming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had endorsed him. “Thanks @realDonaldTrump!” Pittenger tweeted.
The endorsement, though, had come in the form of a tweet from NC Team Trump (@TeamTrumpNC), which is merely an account that supports Trump but is not actually Trump’s campaign.
Pittenger then told me that the endorsement had been confirmed by Scott Mason, the congressional liaison for Trump’s campaign. Pittenger’s strategists said they would try to get Mason to contact me to confirm, but he never did. Trump himself had not tweeted about it by Monday night. Trump’s North Carolina director, Earl Phillip, told the Observer’s Jim Morrill, “My comment is no comment.”
In an email forwarded to the Observer by the Harris campaign, Huckabee said he had spoken Monday afternoon to Trump campaign officials. “Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for the Donald Trump campaign confirmed that there was NO endorsement from Trump for Robert Pittenger,” Huckabee said.[…]
George Rouco, who HAD been primarying Pittenger but is now running in the crowded 13th district GOP primary field, also seems to think HE is endorsed by Trump:
You have to give George some credit though. He’s a little more straight-forward on this than Pittenger is. He admits it is only a “list from NC Team Trump.” That’s kind of like saying ‘I got endorsed by somebody who is a really big fan of Ted Cruz.’ SOOOOOOOOOO WHAT?
If you look at the original “June 7 voter cheat sheet” tweeted out by the Trump fan account, you’ll note that it’s little more than a list of people on the ballot today who have publicly said nice things about presidential candidate Donald Trump.
This ”Team Trump” looks highly establishment, with lots of establishment hacks – Rouco, Pittenger, Taylor Griffin, and Renee Ellmers on their endorsement list. The only non-establishment candidate they seem to be backing is Patti Curran. Ellmers and Pittenger are openly pro-amnesty, and Rouco is a closet amnesty supporter. Griffin has a lot of financial backing from the Boehner people and the amnesty crowd, although he tries to deny that with voters (liar that he is proven to be on this and other issues).
”Team Trump” looks more like ”Team Boehner” or ”Team Zuckerburg” with the exception of the Curran endorsement.
Not sure why you would want to claim the endorsement of the guy, when even the GOP Speaker of the House is openly calling him a racist.
Paul Ryan: Trump’s judge comments ‘textbook racist’
WorldNetDaily: bit.ly/1UDSkyY
It was a good day. Ellmers gone. Walter Jones stayed.
Pittenger or whoever wins will always be looking over their shoulder.
People forget Pat McCrory & Donald Trump are the only people in the GOP that actually push back. Though Trump is all over the map on the bathrooms.
Everyone else, Haley, Rubio, Martinez, Walker are a bunch of wimps.
They are talking about slightly different issues and the crossover voting is confusing.
Happy to hear that Mssssssssss Elmers gets a one-way ticket home.
Sorry to hear Mssssssss Foxx retained her seat. Got ill after seeing her blubber over John Boehner a while ago. It was pitiful… Hope the voters in her district wake up soon.
Still have to live with Buuuuuurrrrrrr and Tollis (yes I know how I spelled it). WE must work harder to find replacements, especially for Little Richard… The time to begin the hunt is now.
Absolutely agree with your observations. When Foxx’s lackey came personally to my house I lambasted her record to him and he had the audacity to say it’s not that simple. I let him know her leadership position has gotten in the way of representing the people in the 5th District.
Rouco got slammed by Matt McCall in their home county Iredell! Funny how stretching the truth on the internet comes back to haunt!