Posted on 02/01/2022 2:46:42 PM PST by NoLibZone
A baffling Trump endorsement in Tennessee has caused quite a stir in MAGA country. If you haven’t been paying close attention to political minutiae lately, Politico has the story:
Former President Donald Trump is facing serious backlash from die-hard loyalists over his decision to intervene in a Tennessee House race, with his supporters accusing him of spurning a staunch Republican ally who’s running. Trump on Tuesday evening endorsed Morgan Ortagus, who served as a State Department spokesperson during his administration and is pondering a run for a Middle Tennessee-based congressional district. The announcement has caused a firestorm, with far-right, high-profile backers ranging from North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn to conservative activist Candace Owens taking to social media to voice their support for Robby Starbuck, a rival candidate who’s been a mainstay of the pro-Trump movement. [Politico] Is this all just a tempest in a teapot? Our research indicates this Trump endorsement is even worse than you might have thought at first glance. Megan Ortagus might be President Trump’s former State Department spokesperson, but she holds GOP establishment neocon views that are diametrically opposed to the America First, MAGA-movement.
Mere hours after Trump’s endorsement, The National Pulse publicized statements Ortagus had made vowing to “faithfully [serve] the incoming Biden Administration,” and trashing Trump back during the 2016 race. It turns out that, in 2016, she dutifully repeated all of the Never Trump talking points of the GOP establishment:
“You have somebody who makes fun of people with mental and physical disabilities. That’s disgusting; there’s no other way around it,” remarked Ortagus in January 2016 during an interview with Fox News. Ortagus, while working for a super PAC associated with Trump’s primary opponent former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, said she “fundamentally disagree[d]” with Trump’s approach to foreign policy. “In his gut, he does not think that Americans should be, quote unquote, the policemen of the world,” she said during a 2016 panel discussion dissecting Trump’s foreign policy speech. “I don’t see it that way. I think that America is the glue that holds the world together. … So there were points that I agreed with him today, but overall, I fundamentally disagree with his isolationist approach to foreign policy,” she added. Ortagus and her second husband were married by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in 2000. [National Pulse] Getting married by Ruth Bader Ginsburg might simply reflect a profound lack of taste in Ortagus’ personal life that can be overlooked, but championing America as the “policemen of the world,” casting President Trump’s policies as “isolationist,” and stating that she “fundamentally disagrees” with Trump’s America First, Jacksonian approach to foreign policy are political sins that cannot be forgiven.
Of course, many people criticized Donald Trump in 2016, and later came around on the importance of the political realignment he led. The issue with Ortagus, however, isn’t limited to her criticism of Trump—it’s her clear failure to have learned anything after serving in his administration.
If Ortagus is elected to the House, she will become one of the most extreme warhawks in the Republican Party—a natural ally of figures like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Her Twitter timeline features a cascading list of demands that America get involved in a dizzying array of foreign entanglements.
Ortagus calls for the US government to ship more weapons to Ukraine, immediately:
He doesn’t have to learn. Many here on FR will vote and only vote for those Trump endorses. They will do mental gymnastics to justify it.
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Thank you, President Trump! It was an honor working for the #AmericaFirst agenda in your administration. Like you, I’ll always fight for American greatness. pic.twitter.com/n4BGP71mWs— Morgan Ortagus (@MorganOrtagus) January 26, 2022
Too bad a pull-out wasn’t initiated years ago.
Maybe he just saw her and said yeah!
He thought he was judging in Miss America again...ooh baby...she’s a winner!
WE DON’T USE ENDORSEMENTS FOR SAYING THANK YOU!
F THAT S!
On this endorsement...YES, we are smarter than Trump.
He has not.
In 2024, the Oligarchy is going to STEAL the election away from him a SECOND TIME.
And Trump will take it up the A.
In 2016 and 2020 I voted FOR TRUMP. In 2024, I will be voting AGAINST the DEM.
This is not good. Trump knew in advance that MAGA did not want Ortagus.
Keep this crap up Donald and you will have as many attendees at your rallies as Lesko Brandon has.
She needs to run in a New England state...not in Tennessee.
Luther Strange was the incumbent and had one of the most conservative voting records in the Senate for his short tenure there. Roy Moore was the only candidate who could have lost the race and he certainly did. Awful record of arrogance acting like the rules don’t apply to him and he can do whatever he wishes - right until the end just assuming he’d win and went out of state to a ball game - the weekend before the election!
Mo Brooks was also a candidate but had intensely bashed Trump during the primary and Trump probably remembered that.
Is Trump playing 4D chess here?
Namely, endorse a neo-con and then watch the MAGA clobber her in the primaries?
Trump explained it very clearly. He said Moore would have trouble winning the general, which proved correct.
I was thinking the same thing.
DeSantis should consider running against Trump for 2024.
It’s time for the young Lion to topple the over the hill pride leader.
It’s time. Trump served his purpose but we need someone to lead us in the Cold Civil War. Trump failed.
Time to give the ‘Florida Man’ the sceptre.
“Trump is going to make a mistake here and there. Who in life hasn’t.”
Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, Brett Kavanaugh. Just a few BIG mustakes.
Everybody is smarter than Trump because what she didn’t always support Trump 7 years ago (neither did Desantis, Rand Paul, Levin) during the Republican primary, and because her neighbor was Ginsburg in 2000. Sounds legit.
It doesn’t matter that Trump worked with her and knows she’s America First and that she was an absolute warrior working with Pompeo.
“ If you haven’t been paying close attention to political minutiae lately, Politico has the story…”
All I needed to read.
Sorry y’all but we need him right here.
You don’t have to convince me.
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