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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy Dark Journey Into the Soul of a Model Young Republican Candidate
JezebelMadison Cawthorn is a handsome guy, if your tastes run towards toothy, muscled blondes. In interviews, the 25-year-old Republican practically gleams with youthful vigor, his locks swept back and gelled à la Richard Spencer. Cawthorns age is his selling point; he paints his relative inexperience as a key motivation for why hes running for Congress in North Carolinas 11th district. I dont really think theres any time to wait, he told Fox Businesss Maria Bartiromo shortly after his lopsided victory in Junes Republican primary runoff. Our countrys in dire times, and if it doesnt have somebody come out to help and someone to lead a patriot revolution of this younger generation, then I feel like were going to have a generational time bomb go off in the Republican Party.
Its clear Cawthorn sees himself as that person. With his primary victory over Donald Trump-endorsed Lynda Bennett, Cawthorn created a narrative that was eagerly, if belatedly, embraced by the upper echelons of the Republican Party; he spent a Monday in late July hobnobbing with Trump, Lindsay Graham, and Rudy Giuliani at Trumps Washington hotel. The Republicans need new blood, and who better than Cawthorn, with his perfect story and his perfect looks? Hes a fighter, to use his favorite term, who survived a devastating car accident at 18, which left him partially paralyzed and using a wheelchair. Hes a real estate investor and the CEO of his own company; a motivational speaker who just wants to inspire others; a devout Christian; a lover of the Second Amendment; a family man, already engaged to be married to Cristina Bayardelle, an impressively buff fitness influencer and CrossFit champion who also loves guns. Cawthorn is Republican catnip.
But after I first wrote about him, I received a flurry of emails, many from North Carolinians who will be his constituents if Cawthorn wins his general election race against his Democratic opponent, Moe Davis. These constituents told me that there was more to know about Cawthorn than his hatred of socialism, his eyebrow-raising legal battles, and his penchant for posting vacation photos with distasteful captionsincluding a joke he made about conquering Mexican restaurants in the same way that conquistadors conquered entire civilizations, and another about the fulfillment of his dream of seeing the vacation home of, as he put it, the Führer. (The experience, he wrote, did not disappoint.) Strange to hear so many laughs and share such a good time with my brother where only 79 years ago a supreme evil shared laughs and good times with his compatriots, Cawthorn mused in the caption of the latter Instagram post, which featured a photo of him and his brother smiling widely in front of the Eagles Nest, where Adolf Hitler vacationed in Berchtesgaden.
So I decided to look a little closer. And while Cawthorns campaign didnt provide any answersthey did not respond to several requests for comment, which included a detailed list of questionswhat I discovered was illuminating. Cawthorn often talks about the need for Republicans to have a fresh young face, and to wrap conservative ideas in better packaging and better messaging that is less abrasive. But better packaging is just thatpackaging. Cawthorn is following the playbook of other, more successful far-right Republicans in recent years, attempting to rebrand his extreme viewswhich include what I would describe as white supremacist-adjacent nationalismas squarely in the mainstream of the Republican Party. In doing so, hes co-signing those ideas for a new generation of voters who may be turned off by Old White Men but who might embrace them from a fellow millennial.
And then theres the story he tells about himself. Much of Cawthorns professional background has been accepted at face value, with news articles about him (including one I wrote) running with the persona he has cultivated: that of a young, successful businessman who, inspired by personal tragedy and a quagmire of medical debt, is on a mission to stop the horrific spread of socialism. But look even slightly beyond the surface and that story begins to look more like a padded resumé, one composed of what seems like half-truths and lies by omission.
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My Dark Journey Into the Soul of a Model Young Republican Candidate (Original Post)
brooklynite
Aug 2020
OP
hatrack
(59,587 posts)1. I got a 404 message at your link, but the article is linked below
https://theslot.jezebel.com/my-dark-journey-into-the-soul-of-a-model-young-republic-1844324325
On edit: And yes, he's another empty "Christian" with a big portfolio of nothing.
On edit: And yes, he's another empty "Christian" with a big portfolio of nothing.
chowder66
(9,070 posts)3. Click on the link then click on jezebel at the top
It will take you to the main page
Beakybird
(3,333 posts)2. Link not working?
chowder66
(9,070 posts)4. Click the link and then jezebel up top
It will take you to the story on their front page
flying rabbit
(4,634 posts)5. K&R nt
Chili
(1,725 posts)6. his eyes
...cold & soulless. That smile would hide it if you let it. Gives me the chills.
AnnieBW
(10,427 posts)7. Hitler Youth
He reminds me of those pictures of the Hitler Youth.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)8. I clicked on the "Jezebel" link and got the entire article.
The best part comes after your snip. The guy is a polished liar. He presents himself as successful, but is likely living off a $3 million plus insurance payout. A total empty suit.
As I read more about him, it became clear why his first girlfriend ran off with his best friend, that was likely her quickest way out.
denem
(11,045 posts)9. How acceptable is his package?
Many voters want to know. Table the evidence.