RINO Alert? Madison Cawthorn Scrubs ‘America First’ Immigration Position From Campaign Website

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Aug 29, 2020

Congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn, the inspirational 25-year-old Republican in the race for North Carolina’s 11th District seat, has quietly scrubbed immigration from his platform on his official website.

During the primary, Cawthorn won by painting himself as an America First patriot in the same vein as President Donald Trump. According to his campaign website, he had the following position on immigration:

We lawfully admit over a million immigrants each year, which far exceeds other countries. But, our immigration system is in crisis. We need to secure our borders and we need the rule of law. I oppose the continued allowance of sanctuary cities.

While this is a relatively tame and moderate position on immigration, it is too much for Cawthorn to stand by as he heads toward the general and no longer needs to act like he is a staunch conservative.

Political analyst and author Ryan James Girdusky noted that Cawthorn has now removed the immigration position from his campaign website completely:

Even before he changed his stance on immigration, there were already troubling signs that Cawthorn may be a RINO laying in the weeds.

“I like the environment. I think anybody who owns land or really likes going out hunting, they care about the environment as well,” Cawthorn told the New York Times in an interview following his surprise primary victory in June.

“I do have very strong conservative values. I think the place where we really do differ is that I believe I can carry the message of conservatism in a way that doesn’t seem so abrasive — that has better packaging, I would say, better messaging,” he added.

He told the fake news hacks that he thought President Trump’s messaging on the immigration in particular was offensive and counter-productive.

“You look at border security — after 2015, 2016, when we really started talking about the crisis on our southern border, I believe the way that it was messaged came across as if we were xenophobic, when that’s not the case at all. I believe all of us love legal immigration. We love how the diversity adds to our country,” Cawthorn said.

Cawthorn also said he plans to model himself after Rep. Dan “McCain 2.0” Crenshaw (R-TX), the RINO lawmaker who supports red flag laws, amnesty for illegals, and endless war in the Middle East.

“Another way I think I’d be able to help Republicans win the millennial and Gen Z vote is through social media. The left has gotten very good at social media, whereas the right has kind of trailed behind. You see people like Congressman Dan Crenshaw as being the only Republican member who’s very savvy when it comes to social media. I think we need to be able to compete not only on a traditional debate stage or on cable news, but also in the new town square,” Cawthorn said.

Unfortunately for North Carolina Republicans, Cawthorn has all the makings of a RINO. He will have much to prove to conservatives if he is able to win the general election in November.