A week from Saturday (January 28th) Trump will venture out of Mar-a-Lago for his first campaign event after his disastrous and widely panned announcement that he’s going to run again. He’ll be at the state House in Columbia and has managed to persuade Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster to appear on stage with him. Freshman Rep. Russell Fry, who defeated Trump enemy Tom Rice in a primary, will also be part of the show. Presumably he’ll gather some other clowns as well, like Marjorie Traitor Greene and Kari Lake. I’m hoping George Santos joins the team too, since he’s more like Trump than any other member of Congress. Oh, and Matt Schlapp (more on him below).
Despite an intense pressure campaign, so far, aside from Traitor Greene and Lindsey Graham, the only members of Congress to have endorsed Trump are bottom-feeders Matt Gaetz (FL), Andy Biggs (AZ), Paul Gosar (AZ), Elise Stefanik (NY), Ronny Jackson (TX), Welsey Hunt (TX) and Troy Nehls (TX). The only member of Congress who attended his announcement was Madison Cawthorn, who was defeated in a primary. The My Pillow Guy also endorsed him (and publicly demanded Ron DeSantis follow suit), as did Diamond and Silk, two crazy anti-vax nuts. Right after endorsing Trump, Diamond came down with COVID and has since, maskless to the end, passed away.
After the Trump campaign put out a press release stating the members (plural) of the South Carolina congressional delegation would be joining him, Nancy Mace quickly said she has no plans of going. Jeff Duncan and Ralph Norman said they would probably be elsewhere. Senator Tom Scott is certainly not going to be there and the last two members of the state’s congressional delegation, Joe Wilson and William Timmons have no comment about going. Former Gov. Nikki Haley won’t be going either. She and Scott have delusions of running for president as well.
In an interview with David Brody for an extremist podcast Trump seems to have threatened DeSantis: “So, now I hear he might want to run against me. So, we’ll handle that the way I handle things.”
One of the major MAGA supporters, Matt Schlapp, a Trump advisor and notorious closet case, has now been formally accused in a lawsuit, filed yesterday of groping a male employee on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in October. The lawsuit, filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria, accuses Schlapp of ‘aggressively fondling’ the man’s ‘genital area in a sustained fashion’ while the two were alone in a car. The staff member filed the suit anonymously, citing privacy concerns and a fear of retaliation given Schlapp’s influential position as chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference.”
The lawsuit, also accuses Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, who served as Trump’s White House director of strategic communications, of defamation and conspiracy, claiming that they coordinated a campaign to discredit the Walker aide and his allegations.
Timothy Hyland, a lawyer for the accuser, said in a statement that the lawsuit, which asks for at least $9.4 million in damages, had been filed in part because Schlapp had not apologized for “his despicable actions.”
…The lawsuit argues that [Mercedes] Schlapp defamed the Walker staff member by telling neighbors that he was a “troubled individual” who had been fired from previous jobs for lying and for making false statements on his résumé. The message was shared on a group text with neighbors, the plaintiff said.Schlapp defamed the Walker staff member by telling neighbors that he was a “troubled individual” who had been fired from previous jobs for lying and for making false statements on his résumé. The message was shared on a group text with neighbors, the plaintiff said.
The lawsuit says that the plaintiff had not been fired from a job for lying or for lying on his résumé.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was assigned to drive Schlapp to a Walker campaign event on Oct. 19 in Perry, Georgia.
That evening, after returning to Atlanta, Schlapp invited the staff member for a drink.
The two men met at the Capital Grille, where they chatted about sports, and then drove to a second bar, Manuel’s Tavern, about 25 minutes away, the lawsuit says. At the second bar, Schlapp sat “unusually close” to the staff member, according to the lawsuit, which claims that his leg “was in almost constant contact” with the aide’s leg.
Schlapp encouraged the staff member to have more drinks, which made the staff member uncomfortable, the lawsuit says. The staff member turned away from Schlapp to watch a baseball game on television in the bar, and Schlapp asked why the aide would not look at him, according to the lawsuit.
The staff member said they had an early event the next morning, and offered to drive Schlapp back to the hotel, the lawsuit says.
On the way home, Schlapp allegedly grabbed the staff member’s leg and crotch inside a car while the staff member drove to Schlapp’s hotel, according to the lawsuit.
The episode left the plaintiff “frozen with shock, mortification, and fear from what was happening, particularly given Schlapp’s power and status in conservative political circles,” according to the lawsuit.
After returning home, the staff member spoke to friends about the episode and made personal video recordings about what had happened, according to the lawsuit.
He informed campaign officials about the encounter the next morning, and the campaign barred Schlapp from future Walker events, according to three other people associated with the campaign who were involved in those discussions and spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.
The campaign officials told The Times that they had advised the aide to text Schlapp that he was uncomfortable with what had happened the previous night. The aide also provided Schlapp with the name and number of another driver, according to the lawsuit.
Schlapp then called the aide, who did not answer, according to documents viewed by The Times. A few hours later, Schlapp texted the aide, wishing him good luck on the campaign.
“If you could see it in your heart to call me at end of day,” Schlapp texted, “I would appreciate it.”
The allegations became public in the Daily Beast article published on Jan. 5 as the American Conservative Union opened several days of meetings and fund-raisers in South Florida, including an event at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach resort.
Schlapp and Trump attended the gala, where the former president delivered remarks.
As always happens at first in cases like this, Schlapp and his coterie are denying everything and calling it character assassination. They claim the guy is conspiring with the Daily Beast against him. Eventually he’ll settle the suit out of court.
Comments