'Ambitious cowardice at its worst': North Carolina Republicans are furious with Madison Cawthorn

According to a report from the Citizen Times, Rep. Madison Cawthorn's (R-NC) decision to switch districts -- and derail a popular Republican Party lawmaker's plan to run for that seat -- has rankled GOP insiders in the state who are growing tired of his act.

Cawthorn -- who has allied himself with attention-seeking GOP lawmakers like Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) -- decided to abandon North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District for another the 13th that has been made even more Republican-friendly which led to Tim Moore of Cleveland County to step aside after Cawthron launched a broadside at him.

With the report stating, "Moore was the longest-serving speaker in the history of the North Carolina House. And never mind that, thanks to Moore’s legislative allies, the new 13th Congressional District had been tailor-made for him so he could fulfill a dream to serve in Washington," Tom Fielder adds that Cawthorn's move has set off an "uncivil war" among North Carolina Republicans.

According to Charles Jeter Jr., an influential ex-Republican state representative, "This isn’t a noble effort. This is ambitious cowardice at its worst."

More to the point, Jeter wrote, "He's an embarrassment that we need to defeat.”

Republican political strategist Jim Blaine echoed that sentiment, tweeting out: "In what universe does this make sense?”

"Cawthorn’s me-centered vision isn’t widely shared within his own party. His ambition to extend his 'impact on the affairs of our state and our nation as he said in a [recent] video, is colliding violently against North Carolina’s Republican establishment, which itself is a bastion of conservatism. His move eastward has ignited a power struggle within the GOP between Cawthorn’s insurgents demanding the party remake itself in the image of Trump, and the establishment wing determined to retain its domination over the machinery of government."

In an interview, Catawba College professor Michael Bitzer explained, "We are in this divide of us-versus-them in the party. And you cannot pursue the middle ground because there is no middle ground in the Republican Party.”

The report adds, "Reflecting the existential stakes, the fire and fury triggered by Cawthorn’s move toward the Charlotte metroplex may have no precedent within the modern Republican Party. Bitzer sees this as a major battle within a national war by Trump loyalists to seize all the levers that control the GOP’s power, including party voters, party functionaries and, in their sights, the party’s elected office holders."

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