Trump: Virginia’s Gillespie ‘did not embrace me or what I stand for’

by WorldTribune Staff, November 8, 2017

While the mainstream media gleefully reported Democrat Ralph Northam’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race as a repudiation of President Donald Trump and his agenda, Trump was quick to point out that establishment GOP candidate Ed Gillespie was hardly on the president’s bandwagon.

GOP candidate Ed Gillespie lost to Democrat Ralph Northam in Virginia’s gubernatorial election on Nov. 7. / Getty Images

“Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted. “Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!”

While Northam defeated Gillespie in the Nov. 7 voting, Democrat Phily Murphy downed Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in the New Jersey gubernatorial contest.

Breitbart’s Joel Pollak said the Nov. 7 results were not the setback for Trump that pundits made them out to be.

“That is more than a stretch; it is flatly contradicted by some of the data,” Pollack wrote. “Republican Jill Vogel, running for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia, hitched herself to Trump and out-performed the GOP establishment candidate at the top of the ticket, Ed Gillespie, by tens of thousands of votes.”

Pollak added: “It would be more accurate to point out that, once again, the Republican establishment came up short. Someone in the Gillespie campaign actually thought it would be a good idea to campaign with Condoleezza Rice – who, for all her merits, is a relic of the George W. Bush administration. Gillespie belatedly embraced Trump supporters, but it seems clear from local results that there were more than a few conservatives who were reluctant to be seduced. A late conversion might have been possible for another candidate, but not one who had already run and lost statewide.”

According to a report by the Washington Examiner, Gillespie’s camp also declined an offer of assistance from the Steve Bannon faction.

Bannon was said to be frustrated with Gillespie’s refusal to appear on his Breitbart radio show or do any interviews with the conservative media outlet, the Daily Beast reported.

“Ed Gillespie had no message, was inauthentic, spoke from both sides of his mouth, and at the end of the day, even the deplorables couldn’t save him,” Andrew Surabian, Bannon’s political adviser, told the Daily Beast. “Gillespie campaigned with George W. Bush, [but] ran from President Trump.”


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