Citing his unhappiness in the performance to date of Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks, Donald Trump says he has rescinded his endorsement of the congressman.
Brooks had angered Trump by suggesting that it might be time for Republicans to move on from the 2020 election. Brooks made the suggestion at a rally last August in Cullman. “When I heard his statement, I said, ‘Mo, you just blew the Election, and there’s nothing you can do about it,'” Trump said in the statement rescinding his endorsement.
Brooks had faded to third place in a tight primary race that features retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s former chief of staff Katie Britt, and Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and held prisoner in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Brooks accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, of manipulating him and said Trump had asked him to work to “immediately rescind” the November 2020 election and hold a special election to re-elect Trump. Brooks said he had repeatedly told Trump that the election could not be overturned after Jan. 6.
“I’ve told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement,” the statement said. “But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.”
The congressman endeared himself to Trump when he became one of the first Republicans to jump on the “2020 election was stolen” bandwagon when he spoke at the Jan. 6 rally in front of the ellipse. Hence, the early Trump endorsement.
The congressman said he would challenge the electoral college results in early December of 2020. Brooks appeared at a rally prior to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, where Brooks said “today is the day American patriots start taking names and kicking ass.” The congressman has since said he intended to discuss future campaign organizing.
Trump endorsed Brooks last April, saying he would support “America First no matter what obstacles the fake news media, RINOs, or socialist Democrats may place in his path.”
In truth, Trump was likely concerned that a loss by Brooks in the primary would be detrimental to the Trump brand and damage his reputation as a kingmaker. But it may have been Brooks and his one-note MAGA campaign that turned voters off rather than anything he said about 2020 and the future.
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