GOP minor Prez candidate insults Trump; crowd cries Boo

A minor Republican Presidential candidate appeared at an annual dinner to insult former President Donald J. Trump. The GOP loyalist crowd did not receive that well, and he even had to leave the stage. But more significantly still, his resume includes a stint at the Central Intelligence Agency.

GOP dinner erupts in boos

Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) made his controversial remarks at a major GOP event, the Lincoln Dinner, in DesMoines, Iowa. About 1200 people were in attendance. Hurd is one of thirteen candidates in the GOP Presidential primary and normally attracts little notice. But the Lincoln Dinner provided an opportunity, in the form of a “cattle call” where candidates could speak.

Fox News carried the best account of his speech, including how it began. Hurd accused Trump of [failure to] grow the GOP brand.” He listed three populations of prospective voters that, he said, Trump failed to woo:

• Suburban women who have college degrees,
• Black and “brown” communities (Latins, people from India, and so on), and
• Voters younger than 35.

Then he made the remark that started the booing. From Fox and The DesMoines Register comes this quote from his remarks. “One of the things we need in our elected leaders is for them to speak the truth, even if it’s unpopular,” he began – using a typical “speaking under fire” technique. He went on: “Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020.”

Then he said, “Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison.”

The crowd cried “Boo!” immediately – though the Register suggested a few people cheered, but fewers others heard them.

Failure of crowd control

Hurd paused, then tried to regain control. “I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Listen, I know the truth – the truth is hard,” he said. Clearly the crowd were not willing to listen; the “Boos” continued. He tried to go on: “But if we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House and America can’t handle that.” The cries still continued, so he gave up. “God bless you and God bless America,” he finally said, and left the stage.

According to The Washington Examiner, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who immediately followed Hurd, thanked him for “[making] it very easy for me.”

Will Hurd, according to Fox, has only been in the race beginning in June. He refuses to pledge to support the eventual GOP Convention nominee. Nor has he raised enough funds to qualify for the first Presidential debate. The Lincoln Dinner cattle call was his only chance to address an audience with widespread media coverage.

The Register said only that most candidates tiptoed around Trump and won’t criticize him directly. But Fox mentioned, almost in passing, that Will Hurd was once a CIA agent. His Wikipedia biography says he worked for the agency from 2000 to 2009, and saw duty in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. His other previous experience includes a stint with a cybersecurity firm called FusionX.

The intelligence community has been anti-Trump since the day in 2015 that Trump announced his first campaign.