Breitbart Attacks Vukmir for Never Trump Staffers' Tweets

Breitbart has a lengthy piece detailing the anti-Trump tweets of the staffers of Wisconsin U.S. Senate primary candidate Leah Vukmir.

Matthew Boyle writes:

Leah Vukmir, a candidate for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin against pro-Trump businessman and Marine Kevin Nicholson, has made the decision to surround herself with opponents of President Donald Trump from the so-called Never Trump movement.

At least three of her staffers have very publicly declared allegiance to Never Trump, and regularly tweet or have tweeted harsh rightwing criticisms of the president.

The candidate herself and one of her staffers back in 2015 mocked supporters of now-President Trump as “Trumpkins,” and her staffers have by and large declared their allegiance to “Never Trump.” Not only that, staffers have made comments bashing Fox News host Sean Hannity, propping up then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly, questioning the judgment of Donald Trump, Jr., wishing Trump would be knocked out of the presidential race, and criticizing Trump even long after he became president.

Most of the staffers' anti-Trump tweets cited by Breitbart date back to 2016, before the presidential election. Some go back as far as 2011. Breitbart found very few anti-Trump tweets after Trump's election and his historic Wisconsin victory.

The two tweets Breitbart highlights from Leah Vukmir were posted on September 29, 2015.

Vukmir, in two tweets on Sept. 29, 2015, derided supporters of President Trump as “Trumpkins.” The term comes from devout Never Trumper Charlie Sykes, who Vukmir gives credit for coining the term in both tweets:

.@SykesCharlie, at the @gopbadgers mtg tonight I took an informal poll of who they like for prez. Very few Trumpkins. Lots of Rubio fans.

— Leah Vukmir (@LeahVukmir) September 30, 2015

In the second tweet, she even praises Sykes saying the Never Trump leader should trademark the term “Trumpkins” including a symbol for doing so:

.@HalesCornersFan No - but @SykesCharlie is clever for coming up with the name. He should trademark it—Trumpkins®.

— Leah Vukmir (@LeahVukmir) September 30, 2015

It comes as no surprise to those of us in Wisconsin that Republican political players were deriding Trump the person and Trump the candidate. Charlie Sykes led the Never Trump movement using his talk radio program as a platform.

At the time, I wrote that "Trumpkins" was an offensive term. Trump supporters were mocked, just as they continue to be mocked by Democrats, Never Trumpers, and their media accomplices today. Sykes not only effusively used "Trumpkins" to marginalize those of us refusing to take part in giving Hillary Clinton the presidency, he called Trump voters racist. He declared Hillary to be preferable to Trump.

It was ugly. So, that's the context.

What's left out in the Breitbart piece is that Leah Vukmir eventually supported Trump's candidacy. She was not part of the Never Trump crowd that stubbornly refused to vote for Trump. Vukmir voted for Trump. It's disingenuous to paint her as an anti-Trump agent.

What's also left out of the Breitbart article is that Kevin Nicholson was a Democrat star, active in the party, even securing a full-time position at the DNC in Washington.

His high-profile stint as a Democrat, followed by what is better described as an evolution rather than a road-to-Damascus conversion, offers lip-licking openings for opponents to question his credibility, consistency and character. What has turned up so far—a laudatory letter he penned in 2000 to the pro-abortion group EMILY’s List; questions about his voting record in the 2008 primary; personal attacks from his former college roommate—are the political equivalent of body blows.

One of Nicholson's biggest problems may be his documented pro-abortion past.

I guess Breitbart has to dredge up old anti-Trump tweets made by staffers in an effort to discredit Vukmir considering Nicholson has that albatross.

It's a desperate move, but we know Vukmir. We know she made it clear she intended to vote for Trump in 2016, and didn't give in to the Never Trumpers. We know her pro-life record. We know her role in enacting Gov. Scott Walker's reforms that have put Wisconsin back on track and moving forward again.

Some negative tweets made by staffers about Trump in 2016 are not going to erase Vukmir's stellar conservative record serving the people of Wisconsin.