Fresh off an election defeat, one current member of Congress is now taking aim at those in his own party.
North Carolina Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn took to social media to voice his frustration with the GOP because, as Cawthorn puts it, “the establishment turned their guns on me.” Cawthorn, though, said it’s now time for a new force in the MAGA world to coalesce and truly show what they are capable of accomplishing.
Cawthorn’s post stated that “it’s time for Dark MAGA to truly take command” and pointed out that “we have an enemy to defeat” but he said that victory is not possible “until we defeat the cowardly and weak members of our own party.” Cawthorn ended his post by writing those unnamed individuals’ “days are numbered” and that “we are coming.”
The Republican representative’s post comes two days after GOP voters in his North Carolina congressional district decided they wanted to go in another direction. Voters, after a series of recent scandals involving the freshman legislator, selected state Senator Chuck Edwards as the GOP nominee for the 11th Congressional District in the Tar Heel State.
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On Tuesday evening, Cawthorn, after his defeat in the primary, admitted his loss and called on Republicans to rally behind and support Edwards.
“Congratulations to @ChuckEdwards4NC on securing the nomination tonight. It’s time for the NC-11 GOP to rally behind the Republican ticket to defeat the Democrats‘ nominee this November,” he wrote.
Cawthorn’s loss to Edwards was celebrated by Ukraine’s former ambassador to Austria, Olexander Scherba. He wrote, “Good news, Ukrainians! US Congressman Madison Kothorn [sic], one of Ukraine’s biggest haters in Congress, lost the primaries. One Putin’s agent will have less influence.”
Back in March, a video surfaced in which Cawthorn referred to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “thug” and called the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil” and corrupt.”
In addition to calling for “Dark MAGA” to take charge against those undisclosed people in the Republican Party because “the time for gentile [sic] politics as usual has come to an end,” Cawthorn also used his Thursday afternoon social media post to identify those he believed to be “America First Patriots.”
People Cawthorn believes to be “honorable men and women” include former President Donald Trump, his GOP colleagues in Congress Representatives Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar and Republican Senator Rand Paul.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the head of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk and the National Rifle Association also made Cawthorn’s list.
In response to Cawthorn’s social media post calling on “Dark MAGA” to take control, Gosar wrote stated that he believes Cawthorn to “have a bright future as a leader” and that he has “no doubt” that he will be “back and better than ever.”
Newsweek reached out to Cawthorn’s office for comment.