Former President Donald Trump took aim at two vulnerable Republicans facing tough primary challenges during his rally in South Carolina on Saturday night: Reps. Nancy Mace (SC) and Liz Cheney (WY).
“In the first congressional district, you have another horrendous RINO known as crazy Nancy Mace,” the former president said, prompting boos from the crowd. “Two years ago, she begged for my endorsement and then she pledged to be America First.”
“Instead, the first thing Nancy Mace did when she got to Washington was start attacking Republicans and hold a fundraiser for wacky Liz Cheney,” he added.
Speaking over the booing crowd, Trump then hit at Liz Cheney for her participation on the January 6 committee, which he denounced as a “witch hunt.”
“Cheney joined the phony narrative about January 6, she voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt, which was terrible, she’s totally manipulated by raging Never Trumpers and the radical left – Democrats that are poisoning our country. She’s a terrible person and she has no idea what she’s doing.”
The president endorsed Nancy Mace’s primary challenger, Katie Arrington, in February, denouncing Nancy Mace as an “absolutely terrible candidate.”
“Katie Arrington is running against an absolutely terrible candidate, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, whose remarks and attitude have been devastating for her community, and not at all representative of the Republican Party to which she has been very disloyal. Katie Arrington, on the other hand, is liked and respected and a true Republican,” he said.
After Trump endorsed Arrington, Mace made a video of herself appearing before Trump tower in New York, touting herself as one of the president’s early supporters.
“I remember in 2015 when President Trump announced his run, I was one of his earliest supporters. I actually worked for the campaign in 2016. I worked at seven different states across the country to help get him elected,” Mace said.
“I supported him again in 2020 because of policies I believed in,” she added.
Speaking with the State, Mace said the video was not to be seen as her “groveling” for the former president’s approval and could not answer why Trump did not endorse her.
“You’ll need to ask him,” she said of the president’s lack of support.
“If you call it groveling, I would say you didn’t watch the video,” she added. “I think it’s important to know what I said, but also what I didn’t say — present tense versus past tense.”
Mace told the State that she still supports many of the former president’s policies.
During the South Carolina rally, the former president called out Mace for the Trump Tower video:
This is absolutely humiliating for @NancyMace. Although she already humiliated, debased and embarrassed herself. https://t.co/PVJ7ALKI2e
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) March 13, 2022
As Breitbart News previously chronicled, Katie Arrington won the nomination during the 2018 midterm elections when she defeated Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) with the former president’s endorsement. Unfortunately, events did not unfold as she had planned when she was a passenger in a deadly car crash that relegated her to a wheelchair for the rest of the campaign.
“The incident pulled her off the trail for months and seemingly allowed now-former Democrat Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) to slip past her and take the South Carolina seat — a Democrat win for the first time in decades. Mace then challenged Cunningham in 2020, defeating him and swinging the seat back to the GOP,” Breitbart News reported.
Cheney faces a tough primary challenge in the state of Wyoming, where the state party recently voted that it no longer recognizes her as a Republican. As Breitbart News reported in January, a Wyoming straw poll has Cheney losing to the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman.
“A secret ballot straw poll of Republican party activists gave Hageman 59 votes, a 53 vote lead against Cheney, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. Cheney garnered only six votes, along with state Sen. Anthony Bouchard (R-Cheyenne), who received two votes, and Denton Knapp, who received one vote,” said the report.