Madison Cawthorn's Problem Is That He Picked a Fight With a Koch Brother Mini-Me

[JoanofArgh]

The hits just keep on coming on Rep. Madison Cawthorn, the tree-punching MAGA troll from the newly insane state of North Carolina. Geez, it’s like a guy can't get pulled over (again) for a motor-vehicle violation or stopped (again) at an airport while carrying a gun without it ending up all over the newspapers and on TV. And mysteriously, every time it happens (again), the local news somehow gets ahold of the details of Cawthorn’s entire rap sheet.

And now, a questionable stock thing? And Senator Thom Tillis wants to bring the House Ethics Committee down on his ass? How’d that happen? Isn’t it enough that Cawthorn made those infamous remarks about cocaine-fueled sex orgies among his fellow Republicans? Can’t a brother get a break?

On the surface, as far as his politics go, Cawthorn isn’t any different from Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or any of the other Bedlamites in the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives. So why has he turned into Velcro for almost every kind of public scandal? The answer may lie in the fact that, unlike those two, Cawthorn has made some dangerous enemies back home, the kind who want the wingnut playground all to themselves, and who have the money to buy their way in.

To understand what’s happened to Cawthorn, you have to go back to last fall. Art Pope is North Carolina’s Koch Mini-Me, a wealthy conservative sugar daddy who is probably the person most responsible for the newly insane state of North Carolina becoming newly insane. He bankrolled the Republican takeover of the state legislature, as Jane Mayer detailed in the New Yorker in 2011:

In the spring of 2010, the conservative political strategist Ed Gillespie flew from Washington, D.C., to Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend a day laying the groundwork for redmap, a new project aimed at engineering a Republican takeover of state legislatures. Gillespie hoped to help his party get control of statehouses where congressional redistricting was pending, thereby leveraging victories in cheap local races into a means of shifting the balance of power in Washington. It was an ingenious plan, and Gillespie is a skilled tactician—he once ran the Republican National Committee—but redmap seemed like a long shot in North Carolina. Barack Obama carried the state in 2008 and remained popular.


The Republicans hadn’t controlled both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly for more than a century. (“Not since General Sherman,” a state politico joked to me.) That day in Raleigh, though, Gillespie had lunch with an ideal ally: James Arthur (Art) Pope, the chairman and C.E.O. of Variety Wholesalers, a discount-store conglomerate. The Raleigh News and Observer had called Pope, a conservative multimillionaire, the Knight of the Right. The redmap project offered Pope a new way to spend his money. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/state-for-sale

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39841527/madison-cawthorn-insider-trading-airport-gun/

[Cha]

1. TY, Joan! So is Idiot MC going to

get beaten in November?!

💙💛

[JoanofArgh]

3. I have no idea. I hope so and by a Democrat.

Redmap has killed this state. Once Republicans extreme gerrymandered , it's been impossible to regain control of the legislature . We've made some progress and keep trying , though.

Democrats need a Bluemap project.

[Cha]

6. Yes, Dems Need a Blue Map in NC!

My sister & some of her family live in Asheville.. is that in the dangerous idiot's District?

Thank You!

💙💛

[JoanofArgh]

9. Asheville is a small liberal island in deep red rural western NC.

It all depends on how the districts are drawn up , of course.

[Cha]

15. TY.. that's what I thought about Asheville..

and couldn't understand how MC could be Rep it.. but I haven't been able to find out if it's in his District or not?

I lived there in the '70s.. So beautiful!

💙💛

[FoxNewsSucks]

23. It is

I went there last May for vacation, and wanted to puke every time I passed a billboard for the lying little shitweasel.

A city that should have a Democratic representative is overruled by the surrounding rural MAGAts

[Cha]

25. So heartbreaking about

the brainwashed magats overtaking District 11 now! And the stupid obnoxious billboards.

💙💛

[G_j]

5. I heard someone say they registered as an R

so that they can vote against him the primary.
Independents can also vote in the primaries here in NC. Perhaps he’ll lose in the primary.

[Cha]

7. Thanks! Is Asheville in that District?

💙💛

[mtngirl47]

20. Yes, Asheville is in NC District 11 n/t

[Cha]

24. TY! Asheville Can Do a 180 Better!💙

💙💛

[mtngirl47]

26. As the article said--NC went insane in 2010

Prior to 2010 we had a Democratic Congressman--Heath Shuler. Then when the insanity came we got Mark Meadows. Then the right wing nuts gave us Madison Cawthorn.

The odds are against going Democratic this time---more R's than Dems in the District. I believe that the Republican establishment will pull out all the stops to get rid of Cawthorn in the primary. The lingerie picture is the most damaging. NC rejected Cal Cunningham because of suggestive text messages with a woman who was not his wife. The Western counties will reject Cawthorn for that picture, and his divorce....they could care less about the guns, traffic tickets or the fact that he doesn't go to work on a regular basis.

[Cha]

28. Thanks.. At least it would be

better to rid Congress of that little magatrump fascist.

Amazing NC has Gov Cooper!

💙💛

[JoanofArgh]

11. I think it's very possible. The Trump base doesn't really care if people break laws

so i doubt they care about any of Cawthorn's assholish behavior. They probably love it.

[blm]

8. I think Repubs are positioned to oust him in the primary.

I think he’d be the best bet for Dems to win the general, as so many establishment Republicans want him GONE.

[Cha]

12. Thank you! I had read Rs

wanting him gone before and this article cemented it!

💙💛

[JoanofArgh]

13. +1 This is a very good point.

[3Hotdogs]

2. Time to "No Fly" Cawthorn's ass.

Let him drive back and forth to D.C.

[Mr.Bill]

21. His driver's license is revoked.

He can't legally drive. What we haven't heard is why it was revoked.

[spinbaby]

4. They just didn't like him talking

They don’t mind guns, but don’t mention Republican drug orgies.

[Hugin]

10. Bedlamites.

Nice. Very nice. I must add it to my repertoire.

[JoanofArgh]

14. Charlie Pierce is the best.

He's been calling North Carolina the newly insane state since 2010, lol.

[blm]

16. Aye and for sure.

It used to be the most progressive southern state.

They targeted the university system as soon as they took power.

[JoanofArgh]

17. It's all made me sick.

[Hortensis]

18. :) Well, that was a fun read. Thanks, Joan.

I won't be holding my breath for a Democrat to win in either district in the GE. But hopefully the fun we can have will just continue. Cawthorn's the incumbent runner in District 11, down seriously in the polls from a once-heavy lead ( ), and early primary voting starts Thursday.

[JoanofArgh]

19. Pierce is almost always a good read.

As blm pointed out, if Cawthorn wins, NC Dems think they'll have a better chance to win that district, but I'm still not sure we'd win it.

[Hortensis]

29. All things possible, tho. Just read a NYMag article

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/madison-cawthorn-scandals-list-insider-trading-lingerie-driving-lying-cocaine-orgies-gun-knife.html

that speculates he's made up a list of scandals he wants to hit. There are actually a lot of them this 26-year-old still has a lot of years to up his game with. As of now, the list of mostly pathetically troublemaking stuff he has done would keep him from getting a job stocking shelves at any big box store in the nation. Now finally, as a post-adolescent, he's being investigated for possible insider trading. Those who elected him must be very proud.

[Warpy]

22. Obviously the Koch family needs to do a better job of vetting their stooges

Most of us saw this little twerp coming a mile away. He's always been a twerp trying to look bigger and sadly, that's all he will ever be.

He is not going to grow into the job. He iis highly unlikely to grow into adulthood, either, he'll stay what he is.

[mtngirl47]

27. The Koch family wanna be in North Carolina is Art Pope.

Nobody in the Republican establishment picked Cawthorn. Mark Meadows was our congressman and he left us without representation when he took the job as Trump's Chief of Staff. He made his announcement at the last possible minute for people to file to run to replace him. A friend of his family filed immediately and he endorsed her, which pissed off the rest of the Republicans in the District. Twelve Republicans ran for the position in the primary and Cawthorn came in 2nd to Meadows' friend (Lynda Bennett). Cawthorn won in the run-off and then in the General.

He has become the joke that you tell in line at the post office....I doubt that the Republicans will vote for him to return to Washington.

[dsc]

30. He is in deep trouble

He may survive but I doubt it. He isn't going to win the first round and in a run off between him and the establishment's choice I think he will lose. It would be nice if the primary were divisive enough that we could sneak a Democrat in but unless the loser runs as an independent that is a pipe dream.