Democratic Congressional Candidate Deletes Pro-Trump Tweets Before Election
Democratic congressional candidate John Morganelli makes no apology for the conservative positions that put him in opposition to the liberal opponents he faces in an upcoming primary.
But when it comes to his once-vocal support for President Donald Trump, the district attorney of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, draws the line.
Morganelli, who is running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Charlie Dent in Pennsylvania’s 7th District, wiped his Twitter account of tweets after the 2016 election that were favorable to Trump, The Hill reported.
Last fall, Morganelli sent a number of tweets in Trump’s direction, reported the Lehigh Valley Times.
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/995294341743763457
For example, on Nov. 24, one tweet said that Morganelli was “thankful for your coming leadership.”
The tweets, which petered out after December, have since been removed. Morganelli said his campaign staff now controls the account and he could not speak to its day-to-day operations.
He said the tweets in question represented his hopes that Trump would succeed.
“These were after the election and many of us in the country hoped that Trump would be better than he is, he’s not doing a good job obviously and I was hoping — as many Americans did — I wished the president well. Those tweets were in like December and November and after he took — I don’t think you’ll find any tweets because listening to the inauguration speech which I thought was a disaster I just felt that his administration got off to a terrible start and has continued beyond that,” he said, according to CNN.
However, in late January, he was supporting Trump’s immigration policies on Facebook, saying, “I cannot recall if there were protests when President Obama issued an executive order banning immigration from certain countries?”
Among the tweets Morganelli deleted was one that said liberals were “the least tolerant of anyone who disagrees with them.”
Morganelli, who in January slammed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for policies he called “misguided liberalism at work,” stood by his criticism of liberal policies.
“I do believe some progressives who believe that they want everyone to be tolerant of some things are very intolerant of other people’s opinions, so I do believe that,” he said. “I’ve seen it in action, personally.”
Morganelli is under attack from at least one opponent for not being liberal enough, reported the Allentown Morning Call. As noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, more than $530,000 from outside groups has been spent to influence the outcome of the Democratic primary Tuesday.
Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics said Morganelli is a highly conservative Democrat.
“He has kind of a Republican/Trumpish tone on immigration,” Kondik said, adding that Morganelli is “different than almost every Democratic candidate in the country.”
“The fact that Democrats don’t have a lot of people like Morganelli anymore may be sort of suggestive as to why they did so poorly in northeast Pennsylvania and across the heartland,” Kondik said, referencing the 2016 presidential election.
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