O’Donnell, former Sussex favorite, pulls no punches

My wife called, “Come quick!” It wasn’t an emergency, but it was a good reason.

CNN was doing an interview with a political blast from the past: Christine O’Donnell, one of the original leaders of the Tea Party that swept to power in 2010.

Only O’Donnell herself didn’t win, which is why she’s rarely on TV. She lost the general election for the U.S. Senate seat to Democrat Chris Coons.

But she had won a stunning upset in the 2010 primary against fellow Republican Mike Castle. That and her famous “I’m not a witch” campaign ad made her a national celebrity of sorts.

Coastal Delaware newcomers may not appreciate the magnitude of O’Donnell’s victory. Castle, a former governor and long-time U.S. representative, had been among the greatest vote-getters in Delaware history.

His 2008 election for U.S. representative was typical. He won 61 percent of the statewide vote, taking Sussex by more than 2-1.

But in 2010, it was Sussex that did him in.

Castle won New Castle by about 4,500 votes, lost Kent by 2,600, and then got crushed by nearly 5,500 votes in Sussex, where O’Donnell ran up 65 percent of the vote.

O’Donnell’s out of politics now, but she showed insight into the rise of Donald Trump and the state of the Republican Party.

For “average, middle class Americans, especially the white male, I get why they’re flocking to him,” O’Donnell said. “What I do not get is why the evangelical leaders are.”

She said many evangelicals support Trump, which has become a “contentious” issue in her friendships.

These are the same people, she said, who for decades have fought against pornography. Now they’re backing Trump, who owned a casino with a strip club.

So why do they like him? CNN host Brooke Baldwin asked.

One explanation, she said, is that they’re being “hypocritical.”

“They have to tell everyone, including me, that the issues we fought for for the past several decades don’t matter when it comes to immigration,” O’Donnell said. “They’ve decided to put all that on hold.”

Sounds like Trump had them at “hello,” when at his campaign launch he warned of Mexican “rapists” swarming over our border.

Another factor, said O’Donnell, is “that their anger is blinding them to reason.”

“They’ve allowed their emotions to cloud them to the truth about what’s going on with Donald Trump,” she said.

Finally, she said – and this may be the most dispiriting reason of all – the Christian leaders “just want to be around winners. And that’s a shame.”

Wow. O’Donnell’s more blunt than Trump.

Look at his actions, O’Donnell said. He contributed to Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi. As for conservative values, he’s been “inconsistent,” paying “only lip service.”

“I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do if he gets the nomination,” she said.

She favors Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump but hasn’t made an endorsement, partly because she’d like to see Cruz stay in the Senate.

“He has been one of the only ones to keep his campaign promises,” she said.

As for the other party leaders?

“People have to keep in mind that Republicans have had control of Congress for much of President Obama’s term,” O’Donnell said, “and they’ve done nothing with it.”

(I don’t know what Cruz has accomplished in the Senate either, besides making enemies and threatening to shut down the government, but I can’t expect to agree with O’Donnell about everything.)

For a Tea Party supporter, she’s surprisingly open to a victory by Hillary Clinton, whom she fears less than Trump.

“If you look at some her policies, she’s a moderate,” O’Donnell said. “She’s not a far-left liberal.”

True, but if Hillary wins the nomination, I expect Republicans will soon begin painting her as Comrade Clinton.

O’Donnell also scorned Trump’s attacks on the Democratic front-runner, whom he described as lacking the “strength and stamina” to be president.

O’Donnell called that sexist.

“Hillary Clinton has proven she has the strength,” she said. “It is not easy to be a woman in a man’s world, and, face it, the political arena is still a man’s world.”

Not that she supports her policies. Nor would she vote for her.

But she sees a double standard.

“The other day when people were criticizing her for yelling,” O’Donnell said, citing an example. “What does Trump do all the time? It’s okay when Trump yells and screams, but it’s not okay when Hillary Clinton does?”

She deplores the state of the Republican debates. She understands the entertainment value, but said they have “destroyed our credibility as a party.”

The result, she said, is that Republicans are “paving the road for a third party to emerge, whether in this election cycle or another one.”

O’Donnell repeatedly laughed about how she was going to get herself into trouble with her comments.

But that would be unfortunate. Instead of attacking her, Republicans should listen.


Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.