President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign announced Friday that it has selected Republican National Committee Co-Chairman Bob Paduchik (pictured, right) to serve as a senior adviser and Ohio state chairman. But conservative grassroots leaders “want nothing to do with” Paduchik, whom they believe “greatly exaggerated his role” in Trump’s 2016 election.
“As we take our initial steps towards building out a world class team to reelect President Trump in 2020, we’re delighted to have the advice and counsel of Bob Paduchik for our national strategy,” Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, said in a Friday press release.
Paduchik also oversaw Trump’s Ohio campaign in 2016, which Parscale called the “best win in Ohio in almost three decades.”
“We need his expertise to ensure victory in this must-have state in 2020,” he continued, though Ohio’s We the People Convention, a grassroots Tea Party affiliate, doesn’t think Paduchik deserves the credit.
In a press release shortly following the announcement, the We the People Convention rebuked Paduchik for making “a very profitable living taking full credit for the Trump victory in Ohio in 2016,” but said that the “fact is that he greatly exaggerated his role in that victory in order to gain the president’s trust.”
“Since being named co-chairman of the RNC as a reward, he has actively worked to defeat state and federal candidates who supported Trump, he lied to the president about Mike Gibbons as the potential Senate candidate in Ohio, and he has blocked qualified pro-Trump applicants for jobs in the administration,” We the People President Tom Zawistowski (pictured, left) said, noting that “Paduchik was brought in at the last minute” in 2016.
He goes on to call Paduchik an “anti-Trump Republican establishment operative” whom his organization “will not work with.”
Paduchik’s appointment, according to Zawistowski, further proves that Trump and his staff are disconnected from the grassroots.
“This move to put Paduchik in charge of the 2020 Ohio reelection campaign is a perfect example of how the president and his advisors are making critical errors because they are not connected to the people on the ground who elected the president in the first place,” he concluded.
Trump, however, called Paduchik a “tremendous asset” to his 2016 campaign, and said “his leadership in the 2020 cycle will help us win again.”
“Bob is a total winner,” Trump said.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Tom is absolutely right here folks, and I for one E-Mailed the President and voiced my dismay of this choice, along with telling the President that the conservatives of our state will NOT support or work with Paduchik. EVERY conservative in our state needs to contact the President at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and let the President know we will NOT support the likes of this establishment RINO backer.
That’s http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact—DO IT NOW!!!!