Donald Trump has stabbed Ohio GOP Chair Matt Borges in the back just a few weeks before Election Day. Mr. Borges had bragged about his close relationship with Trump and his ability to get Mr. Trump to listen when few others could. But that is now ending.
In the equivalent of a snub, it was not Mr. Trump who did the dirty work, but his Ohio campaign chair, Bob Paduchik. Right as Trump needs help to win a key state, the state GOP has formed a circular firing squad around him:
Borges has not been shy about criticizing Trump. Last Saturday, he told state party officials they would face no ramifications from rescinding endorsements from Trump in the aftermath of the release of a 2005 video showing Trump making vulgar and sexually aggressive comments about women.
In a Saturday interview with clevleand.com, Borges complained the letter was a distraction and detracted from the party's efforts to help deliver Ohio for Trump and other Republicans this November.
"There's no worse way to be spending my Saturday 30 days from an election that (we) absolutely should have won this year than to be spending 100 percent of my time on the phone or on emails or answering questions or [granting interviews] on a topic like this that isn't helping us advance the ball," Borges said at the time.
And later that day, two high-ranking Ohio GOP elected officials — U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and Auditor Dave Yost — revoked their support of Trump. Kasich issued a lengthy statement criticizing Trump, and definitively stated that he will not vote for him.
The problem is that Hillary has moved into a small but firm lead in the state and early voting has already started.
Part of Mr. Paduchik's letter is below:
I spoke with Mr. Trump on Thursday, and he is very disappointed in Matt's duplicity. Mr. Trump told me, "This is why people have lost faith in the establishment and party leaders." I have to agree with him. Too often, some leaders of our party have been quick to bail on candidates and principles; it's why our nation is on the wrong track.
It's no great secret that Chairman Borges was never fully on board, but his actions over last week demonstrate that his loyalties to Governor John Kasich's failed Presidential campaign eclipse his responsibility as Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. The Chairman is also driven by an apparently insatiable need for publicity.
While many of you have been working hard to knock doors, make phone calls, and put up signs for our nominee and other GOP candidates, Chairman Borges has been promoting himself for an all-but declared campaign for the Republican National Committee Chairman. While you watched Mr. Trump's debate victory at one of our 47 debate watch parties, Chairman Borges was hosting a Cincinatti Enquirer reporter in his home -- to provide an exclusive article to promote his campaign for chair of the RNC.
While Mr. Paduchik doesn't use that exact language, he goes on to say in effect -- Oh, by the way, we no longer have any relationship with Mr. Borges.