The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was a period in American politics when being openly racist and a German Nazi fascist sympathizer would have automatically disqualified a candidate from being elected to any office in the United States.

Some political scientists and historians might give some of the credit to Richard Nixon for beginning to change that with his “Southern Strategy,” or Ronald Reagan’s coded language that attracted Christian conservatives in the days of the “Moral Majority.”

But no American politician divided the electorate more by race than Donald Trump, who made an electoral calculation in 2016 that he could exploit the existential anxiety of the population and manipulate white men especially and conservative Christians into voting for him with his over the top white nationalist rants and ravings.

How Existential Anxiety Leads to Authoritarianism

Once he was in the White House, he did not use his position of power to heal the country and fight the Covid pandemic. He used his Bully Pulpit to further divide and conquer reasonable Republicans and Democrats who just wanted to govern.

Like a Satin Anti-Christ spawning more devils to act against God and democracy, Trump’s outrageous behavior brought more right-wing crazies into the political firmament like Marjorie Taylor Green in Georgie and Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis in Florida.

But the craziest of them all appears to be Madison Cawthorn of Western North Carolina, who according to The New York Times on Friday is now “besieged by multiplying scandals and salacious accusations” and “is under mounting pressure from both parties to end his short career in Congress.”

In the summer of 2020, the first summer of the coronavirus pandemic, I landed in Western North Carolina for a time and was surprised that a character like Cawthorn seemed to be catching on politically. Before returning to Washington before the election in the fall, I looked into Cawthorn and wrote a story I hoped would catch the attention of The New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News or even Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. But my friends on Facebook refused to help by sharing the story, and Cawthorn was dismissed and largely ignored as a clown who could not get elected, sort of like Trump in 2016.

White Supremacy Rises as a Political Factor in West North Carolina Congressional Race: A Microcosm of a Nation Divided

Yet Cawthorn was elected, and now he’s not only joined the crazy clown car coalition, he’s trying to lead it by being the most outrageous of them all.

He recently accused his Republican colleagues in Washington of routinely throwing cocaine-fueled orgies and being involved in insider trading. This week, he was detained at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport with a loaded 9 mm pistol for the second time.

Also, pictures recently surfaced of him wearing women’s lingerie as part of a cruise ship game, he said, imagery that might not go over well in the conservative stretches of his Western North Carolina district, according to the Times.

Last month he was charged with driving with a revoked license for the second time since 2017.

After initially blaming Democrats for the scandals, Cawthorn turned back to his fellow Republicans who he said were targeting him because he threatens the “status quo.”

“I want to change the GOP for the better, and I believe in America First,” he wrote on Twitter. “I can understand the establishment attacking those beliefs, but just digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic.”

Cawthorn is only 26.

Some Washington Republicans scoff at the notion that a solidly conservative district could be at risk during a year in which they are heavily favored, according to The Times, but early voting began this week as the avalanche of accusations against Cawthorn was gaining steam.

“He could absolutely lose,” said Michele Woodhouse, one of seven Republicans challenging Cawthorn in the primary.

His leading Democratic opponent, the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, continues to raise money off her Republican opponent’s foibles, calling Cawthorn “a troubled young man.”

“I hold him in my prayers, but I believe he is not fit to serve in office,” she said in an interview.

Still, the dirt being dished is coming from Republicans — not in Washington but in North Carolina, said David B. Wheeler, president of American Muckrakers PAC, a group he said was put together to “hold Cawthorn accountable.”

Wheeler’s group, run by Western North Carolina Democrats, filed an incendiary ethics complaint on Wednesday that included a video of Cawthorn with a senior aide, Stephen L. Smith. In the video, Cawthorn, in the driver’s seat of a car, appears to say, “I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands.”

The camera then pans back to Smith who says, “Me too” as he places his hand in Cawthorn’s crotch.

Video link

The ethics complaint says Cawthorn has provided loans to Smith in violation of House rules. It also suggests that Cawthorn, who lives with the aide according to the complaint, has violated rules put in place during the #MeToo movement that bar lawmakers from having sexual relationships with employees under their supervision.

After the story broke in tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail, Cawthorn posted on Twitter, “Many of my colleagues would be nowhere near politics if they had grown up with a cell phone in their hands” — not exactly a denial but a suggestion that other members should not cast stones.

Wheeler provided The Times with a screenshot of the anonymous text he received that included the video, and he said he believed the tipster to be a former Cawthorn campaign aide. Another former aide, Lisa Wiggins, went public in an audio recording released by Wheeler with her consent, saying, “We all want the ultimate goal of him never serving again.”

Republicans in the state insist that accusations of lawlessness and neglect of his district are more damaging than details of his sex life. Democrats say they are most concerned with Cawthorn’s support for the protesters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A legal effort led by North Carolina Democrats to label him as an “insurrectionist” and constitutionally disqualify him from the ballot failed last month.

But the revelations about his conduct are making a splash. The photos of Cawthorn in women’s lingerie, first published in Politico, stemmed from a bawdy game aboard a cruise that he took before he was elected to the House, said Melissa Burns, a self-described conservative Republican from Tennessee who witnessed the game.

For the finale, the audience was divided into teams, each of which selected a man to dress as a woman, “the sexier ‘she’ is, the more points you get,” Burns said in an email.

Cawthorn volunteered.

The description is consistent with a description that Cawthorn provided in a link on Twitter, when he dismissed the photos, saying, “I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me?”

Care to explain how this falls in line with your Christian Family Values? https://t.co/Lpp3Ih1J87

— kj martin – If you DM me with spam – will report (@martin_kj) April 28, 2022

Burns also provided a link to a dating app for the cruise from someone identified as “Cawthorn,” using the same photo that was published in Politico, saying, “Im in search of sexy women or couples for some wild sexapades. You wont be disappointed.”

Luke Ball, a spokesman for Cawthorn, did not deny Burns’ description of the lingerie game, but he said the dating app was a fake that used the wrong age, wrong hometown and wrong name of the ship.

The hits may be taking a toll. The far-right wing of the party once viewed Cawthorn, a telegenic congressman who uses a wheelchair after a car crash at the age of 18, as a young leader with potential. Now its members keep him at arm’s length and view him as a troubled individual who isn’t always aligned with the base on the issues.

They describe Cawthorn as someone who is “Twitter famous,” but who does not work the district and lacks grass-roots support at home. Many of them have noted that even Donald Trump Jr., a popular figure on the right, has stayed quiet and made no attempt to come to his defense.

“I don’t see MAGA voters being quite this forgiving,” said Jason Miller, an adviser to the elder Trump.

Still, the former president himself endorsed Cawthorn last year and has continued to stand by him. Trump invited the congressman to appear at a rally with him this month in Selma, N.C.

Wheeler said his group will keep up the pressure. He said legal authorities have taken no action after Cawthorn’s two firearms charges, his brush with law enforcement over expired licenses or his failure to obtain hunting and fishing licenses, despite boasting that he does both.

“The guy hasn’t been held accountable,” Wheeler said.

If Cawthorn survives the primary, North Carolina could have another chance in 2022 and 2024 to join the national Blue coalition and help Democrats hold the House, Senate and the White House.

___

If you support truth in reporting with no paywall, and fearless writing with no popup ads or sponsored content, consider making a contribution today with GoFundMe or Patreon or PayPal.