South Carolina GOP congressman Tom Rice calls Trump ‘a would-be tyrant’

In a Saturday statement, Republican House member Tom Rice criticized former President Donald Trump, calling him “a would-be tyrant,” after Trump’s rally in Rice’s state of South Carolina.

At the rally, the former president poked at Rice, saying he is a “disaster” and “total fool” as Rice voted to impeach him after the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Not long after the rally, Rice released his statement firing back at Trump, saying the former president was in the state “because, like no one else I’ve ever met, he is consumed by spite.” The representative continued, “I took one vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says, no matter what.” 

That “yes man” to whom Rice was referring is his primary opponent, South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry, a Republican, who also spoke at the rally and was endorsed by Trump last month.

Rice criticized Fry in his statement as well, reiterating his stance in opposition to the January 6 attack and former president.

“If you want a Congressman who supports political violence in Ukraine or in the United States Capitol, who supports party over country, who supports a would-be tyrant over the Constitution, and who makes decisions based solely on re-election, then Russel Fry is your candidate,” Rice commented.

Rice was among the 10 GOP House members who voted for impeachment at the time. He continued in his statement, saying, “If you want a Congressman who cowers to no man, who votes for what is right, even when it’s hard, and who has fought like hell for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee, then I hope to earn your vote.”

Although Trump claimed victory in Rice’s district by an 18-point margin in 2020, the representative won reelection that year by a higher margin of almost 24 points.