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Tag: david mcintosh
Susan Wright, left, poses next to a "Trump endorsed" campaign sign.

‘Huge Loss’ For Trump In Texas As He Tries To Dodge Blame

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Donald Trump is refusing to concede defeat, although this time though he was not the candidate. Trump endorsed Susan Wright in the Texas Republican special election runoff for a U.S. House seat – a seat that opened after Wright's husband, Rep. Ron Wright, died of coronavirus.

She lost on Tuesday to Jake Ellzey.

Not according to the former president, who also lost his election, last year.

"This is the only race we've … this is not a loss, again, I don't want to claim it is a loss, this was a win. …The big thing is, we had two very good people running that were both Republicans. That was the win," Trump told Axios' Jonathan Swan.

Swan observes that "Trump is notorious for shifting or refusing to accept blame for any failure, whether as a businessman or a politician."

CNN's chief Congressional correspondent, Manu Raju Tuesday night characterized the results as a "Huge loss for Trump," while The New York Times' Maggie Haberman notes that "Trump did a teletown hall for Wright the night before the election."

Trump's advisors are angry at David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, who convinced Trump to endorse Wright.

"I think this is the only race we've lost together," Trump said, Swan reports, referring to "McIntosh and the Club for Growth, before catching himself mid-sentence on the word 'lost.'"

Meanwhile, as Trump's advisors are blaming the Club for Growth, Trump decided to just blame Democrats.

"Trump himself disputed the result had dented his power," Swan adds. "In a phone call with Axios on Wednesday, the former president conceded McIntosh had pushed him to support Wright but blamed Democrats — not the Club for Growth — for Ellzey's victory."

Donald Trump Attacking GOP Rivals For Close Ties — To Donald Trump

Donald Trump Attacking GOP Rivals For Close Ties — To Donald Trump

Donald Trump is performing an amazing trick against his political enemies: If you accuse him of being outside the range of acceptable political company, he’ll rejoin by telling everyone about the times you were obsequiously groveling for his love — and his big money.

Notoriously, of course, Trump responded to rival Lindsey Graham, who called him a “jackass,” by reading Graham’s personal phone number to the audience — and to the whole world.

Trump was doing more here, however, than just playing a cruel and twisted joke. His antics included an anecdote about how he got the number in the first place: Graham — a sitting U.S. senator — had called years ago, Trump said, begging the multi-billionaire to put in a good word for him to the people at Fox News, where Trump often appeared. And oh yeah, Graham asked him for some campaign money, too.

But the South Carolina senator isn’t the only person to whom Trump has been doing this.

In that exact same campaign appearance where he showed off Lindsey Graham’s phone number, Trump also set his sights on Rick Perry, who has taken a lead role among Republican candidates in attacking The Donald and calling for him to drop out of the race entirely. First, Trump did a comedy routine that suggested Perry is only now wearing glasses so that people will think he’s smart, and that it still doesn’t work.

But then Trump dug up some old dirt: “But I see him, he’s so vicious. You know, he used to be really a nice guy — he used to come to see for me for contributions and support. All of a sudden, he wants to show he’s a tough guy with Trump — so tough.”

Trump then took another step Wednesday — posting a past photo from when Perry was happy to stand next to him and seek out his political (and financial) support.

.@GovernorPerry in my office last cycle playing nice and begging for my support and money. Hypocrite!

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

In fact, this began back in June when Trump first declared his candidacy — and he was immediately attacked in a press release by right-wing group The Club For Growth, which went so far as to call for his exclusion from the Republican debates.

“There is no need to do a white paper on Donald Trump,” said the group’s president, David McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana. “He is not a serious Republican candidate, and many of his positions make him better suited to take on Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. It would also be unfortunate if he takes away a spot at even one Republican debate.”

The Donald struck right back at the Club, though — by giving Bloomberg Politics a copy of a letter that McIntosh sent him roughly two weeks earlier, thanking him for a meeting they had — and asking him for a $1 million contribution.

For their part, the Club’s spokesman told Bloomberg that it was Trump who “initiated a serious interest in donating to The Club for Growth, so we responded to him, just as we do with all potential donors.”

Trump just dug in further in a press release, however, accusing the Club of attacking his candidacy because he didn’t donate $1 million to them: “I am appalled by Mr. McIntosh’s shameless pandering and blatant shakedown attempt, exposing him and The Club for Growth as a fraud.”

So remember: If you try to turn Donald Trump into a political pariah, he’ll hit you with the worst political dirt of all — himself.

Photo: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens to a question at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, United States, July 18, 2015. (REUTERS/Jim Young)