Just one day before the South Carolina Republican primary, a super PAC aiding Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is attacking Donald Trump and Gov. Nikki Haley —who recently endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio — for supporting the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s capitol grounds following the deadly shooting at a historically black church in Charleston last year.
Schuyler Kropf of The Post and Courier reports that the group is urging voters to defend “our flag” from politicians like Trump:
A pro-Ted Cruz robo-telephone call is blasting Donald Trump for butting his nose into support of the Confederate flag coming down.
The recorded message, coming late in the campaign, also takes a jab at Gov. Nikki Haley.
“Put it in a museum, let it go,” the recording says, quoting Trump and his view on removing the flag.
An announcer then picks up by saying “That’s Donald Trump supporting Nikki Haley removing the battle flag from the Confederate memorial in Columbia.”
It adds “people like Donald Trump are always butting their noses into other people’s business,” and that “Trump talks about our flag like it’s a social disease.”
The controversy over the Confederate flag is still a pressing issue in the state: A recent Public Policy Polling survey found a majority of likely Republican voters support “the Confederate flag hanging on the capital grounds.” Support is particularly high among Trump fans (70 percent) and Cruz backers (62 percent), who were also more likely to say that they “wish the South had won” the Civil War.
Cruz never came out in support of or opposition to the Confederate flag’s placement, going only so far as to say that it should be a states’ rights issue.
However, the co-chair of his South Carolina campaign, state Sen. Lee Bright, was a vocal defender of the Confederate flag following the shooting, denouncing concerns about the flag as a distraction from debate over Satanic gay rights, while likening gay marriage and attacks on the flag as twin threats to states’ rights.
Bright also hailed the flag as a symbol of “freedom” and resistance to “federal tyranny.”
Is there any doubt that states’ rights are under attack more than ever before?
As I’m sure you’ve heard, the latest liberal hysteria surrounding the placement of the Confederate battle flag has swept the nation. And unfortunately, many of my conservative friends and colleagues have fallen prey to this radical, Big Government scheme.
With all the noise surrounding this issue, please allow me to be abundantly clear where I stand. It is my fervent belief that the Confederate flag is a proud symbol of the following:
• Resistance against a federal, centralized power that FAR overreached its Constitutional limits.
• States’ rights and Constitutional liberties, which many have fought and died protecting.
• Southern heritage and a culture that values freedom, even in the face of federal tyranny.
It is certainly important for us to take steps that prevent future acts of violence. But in this pursuit of peace, should we also dismantle the historical symbols that memorialize states’ rights?
My answer is an emphatic “NO!”
The plain and simple truth is that the placement of this flag will not prevent future tragedies. It’s abundantly clear that the radical liberal agenda is behind this push to remove the flag, which raises the question: where does it all end?
Are we to also remove the names of Confederate officers from our roads? Should we crumble all the Civil War monuments that dot our nation’s landscape?
[NAME], it’s time to take a stand. Right here. Right now.
Over 150 years ago, brave Confederates made a bold stand against an oppressive government that far overstepped its Constitutional limits. Will you please take a stand with me now by signing my online petition to keep the flag flying ?
States all over the nation are giving ground to the radical liberals by removing the symbol of states’ rights from their historical monuments. But if we can make a stand here and now, we can send a strong message to the elites in DC that states’ rights are still alive and well.
Please click here now to sign my petition , which I will then present to my colleagues in the South Carolina legislature. Let’s show them how much we value our heritage!
