There have been recent news reports on Governor Dan McKee’s cancelation of a fundraiser hosted by Gerry Zarrella, former honorary co-chairman of the Trump’s Rhode Island campaign.
The R.I. Republican Party has the following comments:
“Let’s start out by saying what everybody knows: Governor Dan McKee is weak.
For weeks, McKee and his staff have known about Gerry Zarrella’s involvement in the fundraising event. It was only after the event was reported by the media that McKee decided to cancel the event and in the process, vilify someone who had supported President Trump. McKee did this because he is afraid of his party’s left wing and worried about losing a primary. Instead of trying to govern from the center and appeal to moderates, he is moving left. The problem for McKee is that he will never win over the left in the primary. The left will be voting for progressives like Magaziner or Elorza in the gubernatorial primary, not him.
What is really troubling about this snafu by McKee is the wording he used to cancel the Zarrella fundraiser. McKee stated that there is “no place” for someone who was a vocal supporter of President Trump in “any event I am involved” with.
Is he saying he doesn’t want to work with anyone who supported Trump?
Is he saying he will not attend any event put together by a small business owner who supported Trump?
Is McKee saying he is not the governor of the nearly 200,000 Rhode Islanders who supported Trump?
McKee complains about Trump being divisive, but McKee’s rhetoric is divisive as well. McKee sounds like he is on the verge of adopting Hilary Clinton’s rhetoric from 2016 when she called many Trump supporters ‘deplorable.’
Not only is McKee weak, and now divisive, but he is also blatantly inconsistent. He doesn’t want a vocal Trump supporter hosting a fundraiser, yet for his inauguration he had Father Marciano give a benediction. Father Marciano told his parishioners in 2016 that voting for Clinton would put their soul in danger. So it’s ok for Father Marciano to give the benediction at your inauguration, but it’s wrong for you to attend an event hosted by Zarrella? You are not making any sense Governor McKee.
So Governor, are you this dumb or is it just the people you surround yourself with?”
