‘Dirty tricks!’ Ignore fake political ads from a ‘Trump Club,’ Dan Patrick says | Opinion
Somebody finally told the truth about endorsement mailers and political clubs’ “slate cards.”
They’re worthless.
Throw them away.
If they say they’re from Donald Trump, they should be “dropped in the trash,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Thursday.
With a yellow caution-tape message “FAKE SLATE Warning,” Patrick alerted voters against ads and web endorsements by an unnamed “Trump Conservative Club of Texas.”
Patrick included a slate card from Collin County with a grinning photo of Trump and a list of 24 state and local candidates.
Until Friday, the web address linked to an unsigned list of 150 statewide endorsements at TeamTrumpTexas.com. It still asks for your email address.
There’s only one problem with this phantom Trump club: It has absolutely zero to do with Trump.
Patrick would know.
He’s the state chairman of the Trump campaign.
Voters should beware “fake slates and endorsement cards” that claim Trump’s support, Patrick wrote.
“Slate cards like this are designed specifically to mislead and confuse voters,” he wrote. “I want to warn voters to be on the lookout and caution everyone involved in these underhanded campaign dirty tricks.”
Not a single “club” member is actually named.
Rockport Republican Mary Lee Wintersteen left a message Friday saying there is such a club and she is the chair. She did not say how many members it has.
The website was changed Friday. Trump’s photo and the endorsement list were deleted, and the group name was switched to “Conservative Club of Texas.”
The disclaimer on the slate card says the handouts are funded by the Our Values PAC.
But that’s in New Mexico. The PAC chairman, John Billingsley of Alto, said he didn’t know anything about it, and said he would contact Patrick and renounce the card.
It is not clear where or even whether the card was printed or distributed. Patrick’s spokesman, Allen Blakemore, said the lieutenant governor was sent the ad Wednesday and forwarded it to Trump.
In the fine print at the bottom of the website, the club is described as a grassroots effort to rally supporters for the former president.
I’m not sure exactly what kind of grass is involved.
But the club members made some peculiar endorsements.
For example, the ad defied Patrick’s own endorsement in at least two races. One is Texas Senate District 30 north and west of Fort Worth, where the unnamed club recommended Frisco Republican Carrie de Moor but Patrick has endorsed Denton Republican Brent Hagenbuch. Trump has not made an endorsement.
That may be why Patrick reacted so strongly to a slate card in Collin County.
Statewide, the so-called club endorsed 150 candidates as far down the ballot as Lubbock County constable or Aransas County party chair, offices that typically would not draw Trump’s attention.
Only 12 of those 150 candidates are actually endorsed by Trump.
And one of those 12 is best listed as “It’s Complicated.”
In U.S. House District 3 north of Dallas, Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney.
But the Trump Club told voters to either vote for Self — or against him.
Self shared the card endorsement along with challenger Suzanne Harp, an Allen Republican.
See?
You can vote against Trump’s candidate and somehow still be in the Trump Club.
“The whole thing is baffling,” Blakemore said.
It’s definitely a b-word.
