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CawthWatch: Firebrand's bad month ends but he lands speaking spot at Trump rally

By Lightning Reports, Published: April 1, 2022

For U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, the Ides of March lasted the whole month.

A month that featured news reports about his two speeding tickets in a five-month span, his condemnation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a thug, his (since recanted) assertion that political leaders in Washington had invited him to cocaine-sniffing orgies and his crack that the national rails to trails program is "super communist" ended with the news that U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and the top two Republican leaders of the state Legislature had endorsed his now-surging primary opponent, state Sen. Chuck Edwards.

For Cawthorn, the tides of March were indeed brutal.

“The 11th Congressional District deserves a congressman who is fully dedicated to serving their constituents,” Tillis said in a news release on Thursday. “Unfortunately, Madison Cawthorn has fallen well short of the most basic standards western North Carolina expects from their representatives, and voters now have several well-qualified candidates to choose from who would be a significant improvement. I believe Chuck Edwards is the best choice.”

On the same day, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger were featured guests at a lunch fundraiser Thursday for Edwards, the Associated Press and other news outlets reported.

“If you have clowns in office who aren’t serious about what they’re doing, you can’t get somewhere,” Moore told WNCN-TV while attending a fundraiser for Edwards. “I’m just kind of without the words to describe what Congressman Cawthorn is doing and saying. I mean, some of these ridiculous recent comments that continue to build on one another.”

"Congressman Cawthorn looks forward to securing the NC-11 nomination and uniting the party to defeat the Democrats’ nominee in November," Cawthorn spokesman Luke Ball said in response to the Lightning's question about the Edwards endorsement.

Maybe things are looking up. Former President Trump announced that Cawthorn is one of three speakers who will appear with him at a Save America rally in Selma, North Carolina, on April 9. The event, at the Farm at 95, 215 Batten Road, Selma, starts at 4 p.m. Besides Cawthorn, other speakers are U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, whom Trump has endorsed for the U.S. Senate, and Bo Hines, a candidate for the 13th Congressional District. Trump speaks at 7.

The Save America organization calls the rally "a continuation of President Trump’s unprecedented effort to advance the MAGA agenda by energizing voters and highlighting America First candidates and causes."