'Put me in a tough spot': GOP strategist scrambles as he admits CNN debunked his claims
A GOP strategist, faced with a growing number of Republican lawmakers and national security experts warning voters away from former President Donald Trump, conceded Tuesday he was faced with a problem.
Brad Todd, a strategist managing down-ticket campaigns across the nation, was made to watch on CNN Tuesday multiple video montages of never-Trump Republicans declaring support for Vice President Kamala Harris.
"You put me in a tough spot," Todd admitted to anchor Kasie Hunt.
Todd made this admission as he tried to make his case that the growing number of former Trump appointees who've turned against him — and the 200 former staffers for conservative bigwigs such as President George W. Bush and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) — was just politics as usual.
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"The first name on that letter today was a finance intern," Todd said. "So let's not get carried away with exactly how broad this is."
Hunt responded to this claim with a video montage featuring back-to-back comments from high-ranking former security staff who once worked for Trump and now speak out against him.
Gen. Mark Milley, Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declares "We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator."
Trump's former Defense secretary Mark Esper says, "I think he's unfit for office."
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton closes the montage with the warning, "I think he's dangerous."
Before pivoting to make his case for Trump, Todd was forced to admit, "I agree with John Bolton on virtually every policy issue."
Todd then argued these comments showed a lack of loyalty to the former commander-in-chief and that voters appreciated his ability to make enemies out of former staffers.
"Trump is very well-defined," Todd said. "The main thing they like about him is that he fights and that he fights against the far-left and they see the left and the Democratic Party, is way too far left. They know his downsides."
As expressed by the hundreds of Republicans who endorsed Harris on Monday, those downsides include a threat to democracies across the globe.
"At home, another four years of Donald Trump's chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions," the endorsement reads.
"Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen."