# Madison Cawthorn, controversial Republican Congressman from North Carolina, has lost the primary election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 18, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616 "2022-05-18T14:55:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/121 "2022-05-21T11:36:29Z")
Leaving aside the whole Sith thing and “gentile”, let’s not lose sight of the actual message of that tweet: “There are very, very few of us, and that’s why we deserve to be in control”. Usually the Republicans at least pretend to be in favor of democracy, like with Trump’s claims that most people voted for him but their votes were discarded. This, though, is a direct and outright rejection of democracy. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/122 "2022-05-21T15:55:52Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I don’t follow this shit super close, but that’s the first mention of Dark Maga I’ve ever seen. Did he make it up? In this little clip [Beau explains Dark MAGA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBp5wji8f3Y) the host explains a way to do an accurate search for the term. His interpretation is that Dark MAGA is straight up fascism, insidiously normalized as just another buzzword. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/123 "2022-05-21T16:19:50Z")
Maybe it’s another typo, and he meant “Dark SMEGMA”, which is more of a personal issue. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/124 "2022-05-21T16:37:38Z")
Dank MAGA? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/125 "2022-05-21T18:13:50Z")
Worst. Self-defense technique. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/126 "2022-05-21T20:21:19Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > This is not even remotely related to the reason he lost the primary. Whether or not Saturn was rising had a bigger effect than neglecting his district. > > The GOP thought he spoke out of turn about their coke orgies so they knifed him by releasing all the opposition reporting they had on him. That’s it.⁢ The people on the ground in North Carolina politics definitely thought that the state Republicans were also in on it, largely because they hated the guy and thought his antics would cost them a seat. Which is, BTW, why I think the Washington Republicans cared. It wasn’t the claimed orgies in and of themselves. It was that they considered him a liability to the party. Even I have a hard time believing most of the Republican congresspeople are in on an orgy, and I have a very low opinion of them. I don’t think they were worried that anyone would believe him, or they wouldn’t have risked making him a martyr. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/127 "2022-05-21T20:23:32Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > > I don’t follow this shit super close, but that’s the first mention of Dark Maga I’ve ever seen. Did he make it up?⁢ > > In this little clip [Beau explains Dark MAGA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBp5wji8f3Y) the host explains a way to do an accurate search for the term. His interpretation is that Dark MAGA is straight up fascism, insidiously normalized as just another buzzword.⁢ Which is exactly what @Chronos caught. That’s why it’s anti-democracy. It’s authoritarian, the rule of a few. Fascism just adds the nationalism aspect—the part where it comes cloaked in a flag and excludes undesirable populations. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/128 "2022-05-22T08:03:58Z")
I almost wish they did have orgies. Maybe it would calm ‘em down. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/129 "2022-05-24T05:18:48Z")
Poor Madison, he is being even further persecuted by the swamp that is in charge in Washington D.C. Poor, poor sad boy. > **[Rep. Madison Cawthorn faces a House Ethics investigation](https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1100827985/madison-cawthorn-house-ethics-investigation-crypto)** > > The first-term congressman, who lost his reelection bid in last week's primary, is accused of promoting a cryptocurrency he had a financial interest in and an "improper relationship" with a staffer. Note that the “improper relationship” in the summary was a financial one, not the more usual kind. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/130 "2022-05-24T13:32:57Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Note that the “improper relationship” in the summary was a financial one, not the more usual kind. Maybe, maybe not. He seems to have a relationship with Stephen Smith that goes way past being just a staffer. > **[Madison Cawthorn Staffer Appears to Grope Rep. in Video](https://www.newsweek.com/madison-cawthorn-grope-video-stephen-smith-1702089)** > > The congressman has suggested the series of recent controversies ahead of May's primary election bid are part of a GOP-led campaign to remove him. > According to the filings, Cawthorn has provided Smith with loans and other gifts which were not declared, and the staff member has not returned. > Smith is also said to have lived with the GOP lawmaker in his home in Hendersonville, North Carolina for free ever since the freshman congressman took office. > The filings suggest that Smith and Cawthorn have a “personal relationship between them, separate and apart from the professional relationship of employer and employee.” > The pair are said to be so close that Smith joined Cawthorn and his wife on their honeymoon in Dubai in April 2021, with a number of pictures of the pair engaging in activities beyond a professional relationship appearing on social media. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/131 "2022-05-25T03:19:15Z")
Adolf Kardashian? That’s a good one. I’d be surprised if this guy sees his 30th birthday, and not just because paraplegics have a drastically reduced life expectancy. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/132 "2022-05-25T17:42:16Z")
Damn, I hate to even partially defend this guy, but I just don’t find it that unusual that Cawthorne has a male aide that lives with him and travels with him - because he’s a paraplegic. It would be weird af if he were able-bodied, but I’m sure he needs a fair amount of non-medical assistance with normal activities, like dressing and transferring from bed to chair. Now the text messages are totally inappropriate but I think it’s frat bro stuff, and a lot of that bluster is probably cover for the fact that Cawthorne probably is embarrassed by the degree of help he requires. Financial irregularities should be investigated because Cawthorne is still scum, but I don’t think the live-in aide thing is unusual under the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/133 "2022-05-25T18:10:22Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Financial irregularities should be investigated because Cawthorne is still scum, but I don’t think the live-in aide thing is unusual under the circumstances. What’s unusual is that it’s this one young single guy, who has lived and traveled with him for _years_. That’s a lot of devotion. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/134 "2022-05-25T18:16:40Z")
People may talk. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/135 "2022-05-25T18:19:50Z")
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in the Cawthorn case ruled Tuesday **that insurrectionist can be barred from office.** Free Speech for People issued a statement that included this: > “cements the growing judicial consensus that the 1872 Amnesty Act does _not_ shield the insurrectionists of January 6, 2021 — including Donald Trump — from the consequences of their actions.” > **[Insurrectionists can be barred from office, appeals court says](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/24/madison-cawthorn-insurrectionist-challenge/)** > > The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit took on a challenge to the freshman congressman's candidacy. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/136 "2022-05-25T21:36:32Z")
Notably, the court has not actually convicted anyone yet of being an insurrectionist. So, Marjorie Taylor Greene is still in the running for re-election, and Donald Trump can still run for president in 2024, unless they’re found guilty of insurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/137 "2022-05-25T23:59:13Z")
Where in the 14 th Amendment does it require a conviction? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/138 "2022-05-26T10:34:03Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > What’s unusual is that it’s this one young single guy, who has lived and traveled with him for _years_ . That’s a lot of devotion. Maybe he’s just rocking the old Jeeves & Wooster thing? “A impetuous young man is cared for by his rational manservant.” (Hey, that gives me an idea for a great reboot!) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/139 "2022-05-26T10:44:16Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Maybe he’s just rocking the old Jeeves & Wooster thing? I must’ve missed the episode where Hugh Laurie got naked and shoved his junk in Stephen Fry’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/140 "2022-05-26T20:59:07Z")
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