South Carolina Republican congressional candidate Katie Arrington fired off a stinging text message to former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney over his support for her opponent, calling the former Trump aide a “piece of sh*t.”
The text exchange was obtained and reviewed by The State on Wednesday afternoon, with the paper reporting that it came nearly fours hours after NBC News published a story about the GOP primary race in South Carolina.
“In statements provided to the newspaper, neither Arrington’s campaign nor Mulvaney denied the authenticity of the screenshots or the content of the messages,” The State reported.
“She’s not the best candidate by any stretch of imagination,” Mulvaney said of Arrington, who has been endorsed by Trump.
Arrington is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who has been critical of Trump over events that took place on Jan. 6, 2021. Mulvaney has endorsed Mace in the contest.
“You really are a true piece of sh*t,” Arrington texted Mulvaney, according to screenshots the newspaper provided.
“Ha! You have no idea. What did I do now?” Mulvaney replied.
“You’re just not the person I thought you were,” Arrington answered, before adding, “don’t worry I’ll keep all those text From back in 2018 and I’ll let you talk to me about while we work together in the Trump administration.”
“I won’t make those public and make you look like a jack *ss”, she continued. “Because then you really would look like the piece of sh*t that you turning out to be.”
Mulvaney responded sarcastically, questioning Arrington’s mental stability while taking a shot at her grammar: “Excellent. Godspeed and piece of sh*t in consecutive texts. You need to realize that you might be unstable. Also: punctuation.”
Trump endorsed Arrington at his ‘Save America’ rally in Florence earlier this month, along with GOP candidate Russell Fry, who is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., who voted to impeach the 45th president following the January 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol. Overall, Trump has endorsed eight GOP challengers over sitting House Republicans this midterm election cycle.
The sniping between Arrington and Mulvaney continued, as she told him that she just “can’t stand two-faced folks.”
“No wonder you were fired and as an Irish catholic sent to Northern Ireland,” she texted. “Funny how you never correct reports when they have your job title incorrect and remind them you were only acting.”
Trump would replace Mulvaney with U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Mulvaney was appointed as a special envoy for Northern Ireland.
“And now we have religion,” Mulvaney replied, before again taking a shot at Arrington’s state of mind. “Again: you may be unfit for office. Seriously. It may be time for some deep introspection.”
“Ditto. Pls.,” Arrington then wrote.
Mulvaney shared the article from The State on Twitter, adding: “In 2018 Katie Arrington lost SC-1 because she was unable to unite Republicans after a nasty primary. Sounds like she hasn’t learned much from that. If this is your response to someone supporting your GOP opponent, maybe politics isn’t for you.”
Chris D’Anna, a spokesperson for Arrington’s campaign, accused Mulvaney of leaking the text message exchange, according to The Hill.
“It’s disappointing that Mick would leak the contents of a private conversation. Mick Mulvaney and Nancy Mace teaming up together is par for the course, considering they both used President Trump to advance their own careers, only to stab him in the back,” D’Anna said in a statement. “We wish them nothing but the best in their quest to be the leaders of the Never Trump Movement.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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