Is he igniting an 'interparty reckoning' among state's anti-Trump Republicans?

From Staff Reports

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-Hendersonville, is provoking an “uncivil war” among the state’s Republicans, particularly among those who are not supporters of former president Donald J. Trump, according to a story released Dec. 9 and headlined “Cawthorn’s uncivil war” on the website www.AVLWatchdog.com.

The lengthy story also contends in a subheadline the following: “Congressman’s invasion into new district is triggering an inter-party reckoning.”

The Daily Planet sought comment on various allegations — in the AVL Watchdog story and in a WLOS report — from Cawthorn’s office on Dec. 13, but did not receive a response by the print deadline.

The AVL Watchdog story begins as follows:

“When Madison Cawthorn revealed his plan to abandon Western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District to seek re-election in a neighboring — and seemingly friendlier — district, he exuded confidence, even cockiness, about the outcome.

“‘We are taking ground for constitutional conservatism,’ he wrote on Twitter, describing his move into the adjacent 13th District as if leading a righteous crusade into infidel territory. Otherwise, the 26-year-old Republican added, ‘I’m afraid that another establishment, go-along-to-get-along Republican would prevail there. I will not let that happen.’

“Initially, his bravado in jumping the district line — a legal, though rare move — seemed politically sound and his victory assured. As a rising media start on the GOP’s far-right fringe and armed with the endorsement of ex-President Trump, Cawthorn has raised $2.3 million toward (his) re-election (bid) by the end of September, with more pouring in.

“The mere threat of facing him apparently was too much for his expected opponent, Tim Moore of Cleveland County — the ‘go-along-to-get along’ establishment Republican that Cawthorn swore to defeat. Never mind that Moore was speaker of the North Carolina House. And never mind that, thanks to Moore’s legislative allies, the new 13th Congressional District had been tailored for him so he could fulfil a dream to serve in Washington.

“Yet, just hours after Cawthorn declared his invasion plan, Moore surrendered. He told baffled supporters that he’d just as soon stay in the state General Assembly.”

The AVL Watchdog story goes on to rank Cawthorn, who is 25, as having won “a place among the (Republican) party’s pantheon of far-right stink-bombers.”

The AVL Watchdog story also quotes Charles Jeter Jr., whom it refers to as “an influential former Republican state representative and among the first to sound the anti-Cawthorn alarm,” as saying of Cawthorn, “He’s an embarrassment that we need to defeat.”

The report also quotes Cawthorn as saying the following in a recent self-produced video defending his strategy:

“We have a unique opportunity to increase conservative leadership in North Carolina... In my heart, I represent North Carolina as a whole, not some arbitrary lines that some politician drew this cycle.”

The AVL Watchdog story then quoted Cawthorn at a talk to students at Western Carolina University in October as follows:

“I would love to be governor, at some point, because I think our state would be one of the greatest states in the nation if we had good leadership.”

In its critique of the aforementioned quote, AVL Watchdog’s story stated, “But Cawthorn’s me-centered vision isn’t widely shared within his own party. His ambition to extend his ‘impact on the affairs of our state and our nation,’ as he said in that video, is colliding violently against North Carolina’s Republican establishment, which itself is a baston of conservatism. His move eastward has ignited a power struggle within the GOP between Cawthorn’s insurgents demanding the party remake itself in the image of Trump, and the establishment wing determined to retain its domination over the machinery of government.”