Trump Camp Warns GOP Candidates to Quit Faking Endorsements: ‘Most Are Full of Sh*t’
Staffers and spox for ex-president Donald Trump have a warning for GOP candidates using his name without cause in their ads: Stop it. And the “or else” is heavily implied.
Politico reported on Monday on the phenomenon of GOP hopefuls (and incumbents) who are hyping their connections to and support for Trump, despite Trump not having endorsed in those particular races.
Their par example is Lynda Blanchard, who is running for senate in Alabama next year in the seat currently held by the retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. Blanchard is a million plus-Trump donor and served as his Ambassador to Slovenia. Politico notes that her first campaign ad featured images of “her Trump bumper sticker-adorned pickup truck.”
“But the former president was annoyed after hearing from donors that Blanchard was hyping her connections to Trump and giving them the impression she had his backing,” the report explains, and details how that annoyance turned into an endorsement for her primary opponent.
But where Blanchard and other candidates are making heavily suggestive Trump overtures to potential primary voters, others are taking it even farther, and the Trump team isn’t having it. They are warning people against participating in the Big Endorsement Lie.
“Lots of candidates pretend to have the support of President Trump. Most are full of shit,” says Corey Lewandowski. “You will know when President Trump endorses someone.”
The ‘fake endorsement’ gravy train is apparently long, and has been around for a while now.
The problem has gotten worse since Trump left the White House, advisers say. The former president’s team has long pushed back on candidates they accused of misrepresenting themselves as Trump-backed: Last year alone, the Trump campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to the likes of attorney general-turned-Alabama Senate candidate Jeff Sessions and even contenders for local office. But now, without a comprehensive state-by-state network of operatives and chairpersons that can patrol races, the former president’s political team has to work harder to keep candidates in line.
It’s so bad, in fact, that in at least one race someone straight-up photoshopped an endorsement and used it in a flier, prompting a tweet from spokesman Jason Miller calling it out as fake.
This posting is FAKE. President Trump has NOT endorsed in the race for Governor in New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/AIfzENwg6a
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) June 7, 2021
Politico’s Alex Isenstadt has more examples of this behavior in his original and fascinating report here.
A pollster from Trump’s campaigns told Politico that claiming or suggesting endorsement before the fact of one could “backfire.” Another former pollster Tony Fabrizio said that Trump or his people are going to find out about it quickly and correct the record.”
The honey of Trump’s approval will likely attract more primary flies seeking MAGA votes as the year wears on. Where the line is between showing enthusiastic embrace of the ex-president becomes an irritation worth punishing by him or his staff will remain blurry, though. Because one way or another, it is still largely Trump’s GOP.
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