Seemingly out of the blue last Saturday, former President Donald Trump took a shot at former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt, the opponent of the candidate he endorsed in next year’s U.S. Senate race, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville).
Trump’s remarks led many to immediately speculate what might have inspired them, including the possibility that Britt was gaining on Brooks after a successful initial $2.24 million fundraising total.
During an appearance on Birmingham radio’s Talk 99.5, Brooks said Trump’s comments came as a surprise, and that he was “glad” Trump had made them.
“I was surprised by Donald Trump’s statement on Saturday,” Brooks said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that he did it. I think that we need to make sure that people understand that there is a real conservative in this election. And then there are one or more pretenders — people who do polling. They want to know what the public wants to hear, and then they parrot back to the public what the public wants to hear in order to win an election. And over time, I think there will be some stark contrasts drawn between some of the words that have been spoken and some of the past conduct of some of these candidates that is in direct conflict with what they’re trying to persuade the Alabama people that they believe in.”
Brooks also explained why he was willing to respond to attacks despite it being the early stages and having established himself as the early front-runner.
“You can’t let somebody get away with a strategy that is based on false information under any circumstance regardless of the margin of victory,” he said. “I’ve been in athletic activities quite a bit, and the worst thing that can happen when you’re ahead is that you ease up. You have to persist. You have to play the game all the way through the final buzzer, the last out in the last inning. In this instance, the other side — the special interest groups, the Never Trumpers, the people that want cheap foreign labor and open borders — they’re going to throw a ton of money into the coffers of one of my opponents. And I can see what the landscape is going to be like in eight to nine months, and I can see their strategy. It is pretty clear how they’re going to try to attack.”
“It is also pretty clear how they’re going to try to self-promote, ignoring what the truth is,” Brooks added. “So, I can either watch their strategy unfold, or I can try to intercept a few passes. And I’m going to try to intercept a few passes. That is what your football coaches would want if you were on the gridiron, and that’s what you need to do if you are a candidate in public office. You can’t let the other side get away … with a bunch of free layups. You have to contest them.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
