What or who is behind Trump's strange RINO endorsements in the Carolinas? | Eastern North Carolina Now

When one looks at President Trump's GOP primary endorsements in the Carolinas, conservatives have to scratch their heads in puzzlement.  One can look at other levels, too, but lets just consider the US Senate races.  In 2020, Trump appeared at a campaign rally for his own race here in North Carolina and in his speech endorsed the re-election of liberal Senator Thom Tillis  At that time a strong conservative challenger had been gearing up to challenge Tillis in the primary, and the Trump endorsement of Tillis derailed his campaign.  The crowd of Trump supporters erupted with loud boos for Tillis but the damage had been done.

Fast forward to this week, when establishment hack and former DC lobbyist Michael Whatley, a longtime Tillis Republican, gets Trump's endorsement as soon as he announces for senate.  This in spite of a solid conservative, Don Brown, already being in the race, and a solid conservative congressman, Pat Harrigan poised to jump in.  Trump even met at the White House with Harrigan before endorsing Whatley.

Moving to South Carolina, liberal Republican incumbent Senator Linsey Graham is up for election in 2026.  Graham has long been weak on immigration and was part of the notorious pro-amnesty Senate "Gang of 8" and is liberal on a whole host of other issues.  He has been repeatedly censured by South Carolina GOP organizations for his liberal voting record.  It was clear that Graham was going to get a conservative primary challenge, so Trump endorsed Graham early on.  Since that Trump endorsement, a very strong conservative challenger, former two term SC Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, has in fact entered the race.

The problem is not that Trump has suddenly gone liberal on us, but that he has so much on his plate as president, he has to depend on other people for information on races like these.  Unfortunately, there is a RINO turd in the MAGA punchbowl and his name is Chris LaCivita.  Establishment hack LaCivita is known to North Carolinians as the man who ran Pat McCrory's losing re-election campaign, ran it badly and into the ground.  For whatever reason, he turned up in a high position in President Trump's 2024 campaign.

LaCivita's connections to Whatley come from the 2020 campaign and from the fact that LaCivita worked for Whatley for a period at RNC.  He is likely to turn up in some capacity in Whatley's senate campaign.  LaCivita has already turned up as a campaign advisor to Lindsey Graham, and is also working to try to salvage the failing campaign of liberal Texas RINO Senator John Cornyn.  Cornyn, who was loudly booed by delegates at the Texas GOP convention, has been trailing his conservative challenger, State Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls since before either officially announced their candidacy. 

Trump ought to understand that LaCivita is a Fifth Columnist within the MAGA movement and reject his recommendations.  One hopes that LaCivita does not get Trump to do in Texas what he has already done in North and South Carolina.

https://dailyhaymaker.com/whatley/