During Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd interviewed Rep. Mark Sanford (R), who recently lost renomination for his House seat in South Carolina after President Trump criticized him while endorsing his primary opponent on Twitter. Hoping for an intra-party fight to break out, Todd read aloud a quote from Senator Bob Corker, also a Trump critic, comparing the GOP to a cult. Todd then asked Sanford “would you use that word?” Later in the interview, Todd asked Sanford if he had any plans to run against President Trump in 2020.
The President’s last-minute tweet evidently paid off, as Arrington defeated Sanford in the Republican primary with a majority of the vote, avoiding the need for a runoff later this month. Sanford’s loss makes him the second congressman to get defeated in a primary during the 2018 election cycle.
Sanford, whose tenure in Congress will expire at the conclusion of the 115th Congress, volunteered to take some questions from Todd, who asked him if he agreed with the following quote from retiring Tennessee Senator Bob Corker: “It’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? It’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be purportedly of the same party.”
Sanford said that he would not go so far as to compare the GOP to a cult but he also said “the idea that you can't speak out and say I disagree with you here but I agree with you on 90 percent of the stuff is again, a twilight world that I've never seen.”
Todd Asks Sanford If He Agrees With Corker's Characterization of GOP as a Cult
The President’s last-minute tweet evidently paid off, as Arrington defeated Sanford in the Republican primary with a majority of the vote, avoiding the need for a runoff later this month. Sanford’s loss makes him the second congressman to get defeated in a primary during the 2018 election cycle.
Sanford, whose tenure in Congress will expire at the conclusion of the 115th Congress, volunteered to take some questions from Todd, who asked him if he agreed with the following quote from retiring Tennessee Senator Bob Corker: “It’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? It’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be purportedly of the same party.”
Sanford said that he would not go so far as to compare the GOP to a cult but he also said “the idea that you can't speak out and say I disagree with you here but I agree with you on 90 percent of the stuff is again, a twilight world that I've never seen.”
Todd Asks Sanford If He Agrees With Corker's Characterization of GOP as a Cult