Ed Gillespie Lost an Election. Then He Was Pulverized by Trump and His Allies

[progree]

Source: Daily Beast

Shortly after the loss, President Donald Trump and his top allies began spinning the result as the result of Gillespie being insufficiently obedient to and appreciative of the Trump agenda.

Laura Ingraham, the Trump-adoring cable news host, accused Gillespie of playing “footsie with conservative populism” without fully embracing it. Breitbart, called him a “Republican swamp thing.” A staffer for Corey Stewart, the conservative candidate who barely lost to Gillespie in the GOP primary, told Fox News that, "Gillespie didn't speak to populist issues early enough in the campaign.”

In the coup-de-grace, Trump himself said Gillespie “worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for” just hours after he recorded an election-day robocall for the candidate and tweeted his support for his campaign.

(snip)

Gillespie never appeared alongside Trump. He ducked him often when asked direct questions. But he embraced his political playbook, at least key passages. He called for keeping up Confederate monuments, accused Northam of supporting sanctuary cities, warned of MS-13 gangs rummaging through northern Virginia and even sent out fliers criticizing football players for kneeling during the national anthem. Steve Bannon had insisted that Gillespie was "rallying around the Trump agenda."

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/ed-gillespie-lost-an-election-then-he-was-pulverized-by-trump-and-his-allies

---

Actually, maybe this is the title -- but the first line was in much smaller font, so I didn't use the first line just to be safe LBN-rules-wise:

NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY
Ed Gillespie Lost an Election. Then He Was Pulverized by Trump and His Allies

The subheading was adorable too:

A GOP civil war is coming. Tuesday night may have ensured it just came quicker.

[hibbing]

1. I think conservative populism is oxymoron n/t

[videohead5]

17. That's what I call

Rush Limbaugh an Oxymoron.

[Lucky Luciano]

41. No, Rush is OxyContin. nt

[Rollo]

18. Because conservative populism is the ultimate con job pulled on the populace.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

32. I am a bit confused on, "Conservative Populism"...

... is everyone supposed to buy a handgun and holster and pretend it is once again the wild, wild west? No laws, frontier justice, live in Chinese chef's, etc...?

[RobinA]

44. I Think It Has

previously been characterized as "clutching their guns and Bibles" in an ill-timed but accurate statement.

[Achilleaze]

38. Yup, repubes are "radical elitists" with russian troll support

andthe are screwing over the people of the USA.

[DBoon]

45. I think conservative populism is fascism

something that combines the ugliest of both

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. Couldn't happen to a bigger ass carrot. nt

[Thekaspervote]

3. Hey Ed .. take your pile of stinky stuff and get the heck out of here

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Tomorrow will be very interesting.

The GOP lie machine will be in Hyper-Drive.

[Tiggeroshii]

5. They can say whatever they want, the result of Trump tactics were a failure and that isn't going to

ever change just because they say they weren't.

[Solly Mack]

6. "... but did not embrace me or what I stand for"

Trump is a sick, sick man.

[rpannier]

8. Especially since he lost last year

What HE stood for couldn't win HIM the state

[StevieM]

9. It couldn't win him the national election either. He was about to get clobbered, even after Comey

rigged the race for him a couple times. So then Comey and the FBI came in at the end and rigged the race one more time in order to put him over the top.

[Solly Mack]

13. There are times when I am simply amazed by how people can't see the sickness in his ego.

It's like their house is on fire and they stand in the middle of the flames and deny the burning.

Trump makes these * it's all about me* comments that are so extreme and so obviously coming from a damaged human, and his supporters stand there, idiotic smile on their faces, pretending the stench coming from Trump isn't poisonous.

How warped does a person have to be themselves not to notice how damaged Trump is?

[rpannier]

7. funny

Instead of going with the gracious, "It was a state we lost last year. The headwinds were against us. Ed ran an incredible campaign. But we knew it was always going to be an uphill battle."
They went with driveling BS

[onenote]

10. Word of wisdom from an unlikely source: Michael Steele

Who tweeted back at Trump: Did YOU win Virginia?

[OnDoutside]

12. Steele is a snake. Right up to the finish he was trying to depress

The black vote by essentially calling Northam a racist.

[not fooled]

11. The sniveller-in-chief

shows his true asshole self once again. Never misses a chance to take the low road.

[certainot]

14. ingraham would not be shit without talk radio

Laura Ingraham, the Trump-adoring cable news host

that's another great eg of why we're in this mess. talk radio is the only major advantage they have because the left ignores it. and because the left ignores it everyone else left of the great orange asshole ignores it too. while she may have a cable show it was talk radio, like all of the new fascist ignorant lying republicans in media, that gave her a career. --- like hannity, oreilly and secondarily, just about every republican in media or politics.

talk radio is the only reason anyone pays any attention to liars like ingraham - that's where they can hide behind call screeners and say anything they want about liberals and current events, and pretend their shit don't stink, and there are no free easy alternatives for politics........

[KY_EnviroGuy]

25. I hear you but the question is...

What the hell can be done about it?

Most of us only listen to radio for a little music in our cars, and the Repugs almost own the FCC now. I recently read that small stations now no longer are required to have a studio in the town where the transmitter is located. Therefore, all programming can technically be done from anywhere in the world, including Moscow!

Part of the problem IMO is that the right capitalizes on populist programming that entertains and is affirming of their belief structure, and it's flavored with doses of fear, racism, nationalism and bigotry. It's hard for our truth-loving left to compete with that.

Would be great if we could convince some left-leaning billionaires to buy out Sinclaire Broadcasting, LOL.

[certainot]

52. it's not about competing with it. that's wall mart vs mom and pop.

its existence is antithetical to democracy. the left cannot ignore it and expect a real democracy.

here are a few things people can do:
to start, dems and media and political scientists need to be encouraged to poll trump support for talk radio. too much analysis ignores the fact that this is actually the talk radio president and most of putin’s trolling piggybacked it. i’ll bet it shows the closest association outside of ‘white’
monitor it —  should be easier now to automate recording and transcribing the main rw talkers so people can search and study the patterns and repetition. if all of a sudden there’s a spike in, say the word ‘iran’ or ‘mueller’ or ‘deep state’, etc, it probably means something. knowing about it before  it becomes reality means not always having to play catch up
credit it —  trump needs a RUSH tattoo on his forehead, as do all republican pols and media hacks. they all ride the talk radio bandwagon and feed from the daily smorgasbord of talking points and excuses. dems in media could accurately preface answers to republican media hacks and politicians with “that’s what limbaugh says but...”
investigate it —  how long has putin been using it? did they find a way to feed limbaugh and coordinate with him and others? are any of them being paid  freelance money? exposing the talk radio gods as tools, especially russian tools, would help. Trump guy Sam Nunberg analyzed 1000s of hrs of RW radio & reported to Trump in 2014. to coordinate with Russian ops?
thank all local businesses that advertise on RW radio stations —  thank them for trump, trumpcare, global warming, privatization of public education, voter suppression, deregulation, tax breaks for billionaires, etc. it’s easy and fun to listen to a few minutes here and there and get a few  email addresses for thank-you notes that can get to the boss/owners.
protest it —   include the radio stations in any progressive protests —  they may  be better places to protest than capitols —  politicians and media will notice.
and to combine a few of those, push the 88 universities that endorse 257 limbaugh stations to stop crapping on their mission statements and start  looking for apolitical alternatives to broadcast sports on —  maybe their political science faculties and students can start studying the most dominant political factor in the US the last 30 years. people need to wonder why the unis should drop rw radio. it will start a discussion, gop will freak out, media will notice, and advertisers will flee.

[C Moon]

15. Now Trump has something ELSE he'll need to ask Putin about.

Putin's gonna need a stock pile of extra-strength Excedrin.

[Midnight Writer]

16. Trump will run out of "friends" very quickly. A bad election cycle is more dangerous than Mueller.

Especially when you piss down the necks of the Republican candidates who have stood by you.

[progree]

19. So is the Virginia economy really terrible?

Trump tweeted Monday: "The state of Virginia economy, under Democrat rule, has been terrible," the president tweeted Monday. "If you vote Ed Gillespie tomorrow, it will come roaring back!"

...

"Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for," Trump tweeted Tuesday night, using Twitter's new 280-character limit. "Don't forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!"

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Trump-throws-GOP-candidate-Ed-Gillespie-under-the-12339966.php

So, Virginia's economy is "terrible" (at a 3.8% unemployment rate), while the national economy is doing "record numbers" (national unemployment rate, 4.2%). Or is he referring to the Virginia economy in the 2nd tweet as well? Did the Virginia economy turn around in just 1 day?

[edbermac]

20. Trump: Gillespie lost cuz he "worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for"

Well Donald that's why he lost because he DID embrace you and what you stood for.

[rpannier]

26. The idiocy of that statement rests in

il douche lost to HRC last year
How does anyone think that embracing hair douche, the loser, would result in anything but a loss

[SergeStorms]

27. Trump's wife won't embrace him.

The election results around the country repudiate everything Donald Trump stands for. Trump's "victory" of one year ago was a complete aberration. Without the help of the FBI and Russia, Trump would be golfing everyday right now (he's pretty much doing that anyway, isn't he) and probably not facing prison time. But Trump's ego took over and now his "brand" is down the shitter, and soon he and his family will be spending some quality time together IN PRISON!

Sooner or later Trump and his ego are going to have to come to grips with the fact that he sucks. You're a legend in your own mind, Donnie, and that's all!

[SunSeeker]

31. I sure hope ALL Republican candidates embrace Trump!

[progree]

21. List of Virginia governors according to Wikipedia

73. Ralph Northam ## January 13, 2018 ## Governor-Elect ## Justin Fairfax ## Democratic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Virginia

(Scroll 2/3 of the way down the page)

NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY

[vkkv]

22. Sweet. nt

[C Moon]

23. Worrying...

[progree]

24. Apparently a Gillespie voter on his way to vote

Actually,

A roundabout in Worthington, Minn., was apparently too confusing for the driver of an RV. So he/she simply ignored it and took the direct route

https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2017/11/how-not-to-use-a-roundabout/

[Doreen]

28. I need happiness right now and this is giving me a wonderful dose

with added smugness.

[Kablooie]

29. Well of course it wasn't Trumps fault.

Always someone else screwed up.

[SunSeeker]

30. Couldn't happen to a nicer asswipe.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. Meanwhile, the Virginia GOP is blaming it all on Trump:

Link to tweet

[underpants]

34. "Total Dem sweep" "crushing numbers" LOVE IT

[underpants]

35. Gillespie went way negative way early AND ran a ghost campaign

There's wasn't even a "Hi. Here's who I am phase" to speak of. He went full scare tactic almost at the very beginning. He also would just show up places without anyone (the press) knowing where he'd be or being able to cover it.

If he'd embraced Trump it would have been worse.

[Demit]

36. Point of interest: the small line of copy above the headline is called an eyebrow.

You got it right. The headline will always be in bigger type.

[IronLionZion]

37. All of Trump's allies need to take notice of this

Everyone who has ever worked with or for Trump needs to understand how quickly they will be thrown under the bus.

Gillespie ran an openly pro-Trump campaign demonizing immigrants and claiming Democrats are giving sanctuary to dangerous Latino gang members. Trump himself spewed this nonsense specifically to support Gillespie even though his campaign manger was indicted.

[workinclasszero]

39. Republicans are fucking idiots!

Trump will DESTROY their damned party and stick a shiv in their backs and laugh his ass off when it's DEAD!!

[AllyCat]

40. Am I supposed to feel sorry for Mr Gillespie?

Cause I feel like dancing 💃

[lagomorph777]

50. Gillespie ran the most vile, despicable ads in Northern Virginia.

He really helped our GOTV effort enormously.

[bucolic_frolic]

42. It's called LOYALTY. Total Trump Loyalty. My thoughts and prayers to Ed

you earned it, sucker!

[dembotoz]

43. Sad but fun morning when I kinda feel sorry for a bastard like ed

No I don't feel real sorry

[PatSeg]

46. Ingraham

did nail it though. Gillespie DID play footsie with conservative populism (whatever the hell that is) without embracing it. The base knew he was faking it and moderates wanted nothing to do with a Trump-humper.

[lark]

47. That's just msm BS about civil war among repugs.

Even Corker and Flake vote with the president and party over 90% of the time. Repugs are united on fucking us over to a huge degree, they agree on cutting taxes for rich by raising them on poor, cutting SS, Medicaid and Medicare, food stamps, help for the poor, help for Puerto Rico, education, clean air and water - just abut everything that is important to the poor and middle class.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

48. K&R. Repugs wrote the book on how to be two-faced.

Populist racist, bigoted jawbs-n-gunz-n-Christian vote-getting on-TV face on one side...

Semi-hidden extreme right-wing "cut 'till we can drown the gummit in a bathtub face" on the other - only seen on the floor of Congress.

[lagomorph777]

49. Chris Hayes' response to Trump's tweet was "Tire tracks on Gillespie's face."

Why would ANYBODY EVER be loyal to Trump? How many times do they need to see what happens?

[Freethinker65]

51. Please proceed