RTD: Comstock Commits “Treason,” Refuses To Endorse Trump
One of a series of leaders refusing to cave to pressure, Rep. Barbara Comstock (VA-10) isn’t voting for Hillary… but she’s not supporting Trump. From the article:
“I can’t support Hillary Clinton, but I’m like any voter, a candidate has to earn my vote, and at this time Donald Trump has not done so,” Comstock said Thursday, following a talk to the Rotary Club of Winchester, according to The Winchester Star.
“We’re going to watch the process. I’ve expressed my concerns before.”
In March, Comstock returned $3,000 in donations from Trump. In December she had condemned Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown” on Muslims entering the U.S. At the time, Comstock called it “unconstitutional” and “un-American.”
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Virginia saw fit to call such activity “treason” — or at least borderline treason. RPV Chairman John Whitbeck has since instructed staff to pull down the post, apologizing “for the content of the post” and promising “nothing like that occurs again.”
Unfortunately, Whitbeck expressed similar opinions a mere 24 hours ago, via e-mail:
Now is not the time to hold grudges or allow petty differences get in the way of victory in the Fall. There is only one choice for preserving the America we know and it is Donald Trump. You are either against electing Hillary Clinton or you are helping her.
Not cool.
Whitbeck blamed the unfortunate “treason” comments on an unpaid intern… though Bearing Drift can confirm this not to be the case. On the other hand, the e-mail bears his signature… so while the choice of words may have put RPV in hot water, it is the sentiment that becomes abhorrent.
Coming off of a bruising and divisive (and poorly run) 2016 convention, RPV’s statements are precisely the opposite sentiment that conservatives need to hear right now. If unity — or even harmony among disparate factions — is the goal, then apologies aren’t enough… especially when the true sentiment against conservative concerns reveals them as either petty or treasonous in the eyes of those charged with healing these rifts.
…and the elected officials are seeing the reality more clearly than others.
Whether Comstock’s principled stand will be equally viewed as a “petty difference” or “treason” remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a gross divide between the grassroots and the party operators that is only being exacerbated — not managed or healed — in Virginia.
