Posted on 04/21/2016 10:01:49 AM PDT by conservativejoy
Tea Party Patriots President Jenny Beth Martin blasted Donald Trump on Thursday, following reports that the Republican presidential front-runner is being advised by several Washington lobbyists.
According to Politico, Trump's recently hired top campaign strategist, Paul Manafort, has introduced several of his lobbyist friends to the campaign to help guide Trump to the general election with a better organization and delegate operation.
"Among the influence industry veterans who have been helping the campaign in recent weeks, according to sources close to the Trump campaign, are Laurance Gay, who had worked with Manafort on an effort to obtain a federal grant that one congressman called a 'very smelly, sleazy business,' and Doug Davenport, whose firm's lobbying for an oppressive Southeast Asian regime became a liability for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign," Politico reported Thursday.
In a statement released Thursday morning, Martin claimed Trump's embrace of lobbyists renders him "a complete hypocrite," considering his opposition to special interest groups has become a focal point of his campaign.
"Double Dealin' Donald Trump has revealed himself as a complete hypocrite who wants to make Washington lobbyists great again," Martin said. "He presents himself as an outsider and has said 'I don't want lobbyists. I don't want special interests,' but now — when threatened by the growing momentum of the Cruz campaign — he has done a complete 180, sucking up to long time Washington lobbyists and entrusting them with his campaign."
Martin continued, "First, [Trump] hired super lobbyist Paul Manafort to run his delegate operation and then turned over the entire campaign to him. Manafort ran the Republican convention for Bob Dole 20 years ago! Are you serious? Bob Dole?"
"Now we learn Manafort has been stacking the Trump campaign with fellow D.C. influence peddlers who have represented hedge funds, worked to obtain 'federal grants' for special interests and advised dictators," she said, adding that "this is just more proof that Double Dealin' Donald Trump is little more than a hypocritical panderer who will say and do anything to get elected."
As recently as Wednesday, Trump assured voters during a campaign rally in Indiana that he is self-funding his own campaign and will not be influenced by lobbyists or special interest groups if he's elected president.
A spokeswoman for the billionaire's campaign did not return the Washington Examiner's request for comment.
So you didn’t even go try and look about what Jenny Beth Martin really is for your own eyes.
Cruz is anti-establishment? Ever heard of Neil S&L Bush?
The fact is he’s not hiring the political definition of lobbyists. He’s hiring political campaign staff.
By you’re definition, everybody on anyone’s political campaign are lobbyists.
So you’re accusation doesn’t fit the definition of a lobbyist.
I don’t waste my time when someone wants to attack the messenger rather than deal with the message.
Bush has a paid position in the campaign. So what?
It’s not so interesting. It’s just political machinations. Trump is not hiring whoever he’s hiring to lobby. He’s hiring political campaign staffers to represent him in the Byzantine GOP rules committee. Not to lobby the government.
By the OP’s new definition of a lobbyist, anybody who hires a lawyer for their campaign is hiring a lobbyist.
Lol...I was referring to the so-called tea party leader, not the hired killers Trump has brought in to deal with Cruz and Hillary.
Trump’s hiring decisions aren’t what captures my interest. It is the clear double or triple standard applied against any candidate other than their favored one.
It’s as though they believe all observers are stupid. /rhetorical
Folks, no matter Martin’s motives, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. There are practical reasons to bring in insiders. So Trump supporters can a: stick heads in the sand; b: defend these hire because Trump does no wrong; c: state that Trump isn’t really hiring insiders; or d: make a measured decision if Trump is being practical while not giving in to the establishment or he is in the tank.
“The Tea Party has no leaders.
Those who stand and proclaim themselves such are phonies.”
Absolutely correct.
Jenny Beth was never for Trump anyway so her comments are suspect. BTW, wasn’t she criticized a while back for getting wealthy off the Tea Party?
Tea Partiers or anyone else who thought that Trump would never turn to what they consider to be the GOP establishment for assistance simply reveal their ignorance of politics.
Who is the GOPE. Well, at the top it is political consultants and experts who have run elections before—and hopefully won a few. You cannot run a country properly if you have no experience other than community organizer, right?
Well, as Trump found out, he couldn’t take on the job of a national campaign without guys like Manafort who have some idea of what it takes. Manafort is exactly like Karl Rove except he hasn’t run—and won—the big one yet.
Laurence Gay
Trump’s pandering to the gay vote!
As Trump would say, Cruz started it first.
EXACTLY.
Old Jenny, riding the money train from the tea party - fraud if there ever was one.
She’s useless
That's because he is a sneaky dishonest little Canadian.
Those that live in glass houses should not throw stones. Funny that the supposed Tea Party leader (whom I fail to recognize as such anyway) never complained about this. Hypocrites, one and all of people with hatred for Trump.
Better than the normal, lobbyists hiring politicians.
I simply don’t care. Go Trump.
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