Trump exacts revenge on 2 SC Republicans at Florence rally, tells voters to ‘dump’ them

About 40 minutes into his South Carolina rally Saturday evening, former President Donald Trump took his chance to exact political revenge on a pair of Republican members of Congress who he claimed turned their backs on him and America’s GOP voters: Nancy Mace and Tom Rice.

Speaking in a coastal South Carolina region, where the local economy relies heavily on tourism fueled by its beaches, Trump cast doubts about what he described as the Democratic Party’s “climate crisis hysteria.”

He also claimed Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he were still in the White House, reiterated his false claims that he won the 2020 election, questioned President Joe Biden’s mental fitness for office and continued to tease a presidential bid of his own in 2024.

“We may have to run again,” Trump said to loud cheers from thousands of his supporters.

In a nearly hourlong speech that allowed him to exert his influence within the Republican Party, boost two of his preferred South Carolina congressional candidates and reiterate his continued support for Gov. Henry McMaster, Trump also claimed it was his demeanor that kept the world safe.

“The fake news said my personality got us into a war,” Trump said. “But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war.”

Trump’s visit marked his first return to South Carolina since losing the 2020 presidential election, putting him back in a red Southern state that has historically played an outsized role in American presidential politics.

Trump boosts Arrington, Fry for House seats

Trump, so far, has endorsed eight GOP challengers over sitting House Republicans this midterm election cycle, and two of them are here in South Carolina: Katie Arrington and Russell Fry.

“Dump these grandstanding losers,” Trump said, referring to Mace and Rice, “and replace them with two, rock star America first candidates.”

Arrington is a former state lawmaker from Summerville, and this is her second time running for the coastal seat now represented by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, one of her former colleagues in the State House. In 2018, Arrington defeated then-Congressman and outspoken Trump critic Mark Sanford in a Republican primary where she made loyalty to Trump the centerpiece of her grassroots campaign.

But she went on to lose the general election to Democrat Joe Cunningham in that contest, marking the first time in decades that the seat had slipped out of Republican control.

This time, Arrington is challenging Mace, who in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol became an outspoken Republican critic of Trump, saying his “entire legacy had been wiped out” by the assault on a building and that has long been a symbol of democracy. Due to redistricting, where the state Legislature redrew congressional lines, the coastal seat is now more Republican than it has been in cycles past.

The new lines are also at the center of a pending lawsuit.

In his remarks, Trump ripped into Mace, calling her “another horrendous candidate” and nicknaming her “crazy Nancy Mace.”

But he saved his most biting criticism for Rice, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“He’s respected by no one. He’s laughed at in Washington,” Trump said as he addressed thousands of supporters who stood outside in biting cold and waited in the rain for hours to see him speak.

Rice was quick to hit back in statement after the rally.

“Trump is here because, like no one else I’ve ever met, he is consumed by spite. I took one vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says, no matter what,” Rice said.

“If you want a Congressman who supports political violence in Ukraine or in the United States Capitol, who supports party over country, who supports a would-be tyrant over the Constitution, and who makes decisions based solely on re-election, then Russell Fry is your candidate. If you want a Congressman who cowers to no man, who votes for what is right, even when it’s hard, and who has fought like hell for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee, then I hope to earn your vote,” Rice added.

Fry is a current member of the state Legislature, where he represents Surfside Beach. He is now challenging Rice for his Myrtle Beach congressional seat in the state’s 7th District, Fry made has made his campaign largely a referendum on Rice’s impeachment vote.

Toward the end of his remarks, Trump invited Arrington and Fry to join him onstage.

Fry repeated his line about wanting to impeach Rice at the ballot box. Arrington, however, took her chance to heap more praise on the man who endorsed her.

“You’re the best damn president this country’s ever had, period. End of story,” Arrington said.

Then, she begged him to run again, saying, “You were our 45th be our 47.” The crowd erupted.

Fry shook Trump’s hand many times. Arrington gave Trump a hug and could be heard on the microphone saying, “I love you.”

Arrington, Fry rally voters in Florence

Hours before Fry and Arrington took the stage at the rally, they separately addressed their supporters, who huddled beneath large white tents to get a preview of their campaign message. When they got their chance at the microphone to address the thousands, both lavished praise on Trump, thanked him for his support and took swipes at the two incumbents they are trying to unseat with Trump’s backing.

“This time, we conservatives in the Grand Strand and the Pee Dee are going to impeach Tom Rice at the ballot box,” Fry told the crowd. “Donald Trump has made his choice, have you made yours? Are we voting for Tom Rice or Russell Fry?”

In an impassioned speech where she shouted and swore repeatedly, Arrington called Mace “the Liz Cheney of the South.”

“She turned her back on President Trump. She turned her back on me. She turned her back on you,” Arrington said before asking people to vote for her in the June 14 primary, which she pointed out would also be “the best present you can give” Trump on his birthday.

While Arrington addressed the crowd, Mace was in Texas, where she was speaking about cannabis reform at the annual SXSW Festival in Austin.

The day before Trump’s rally in South Carolina, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley held a fundraiser Friday for Mace in Charleston, where Mace claims she raised more than $300,000 for her congressional reelection bid.

Asked Saturday if she had a comment on Arrington’s remarks at the Trump rally, Mace texted back an emoji of a woman crossing her arms across her chest, gesturing no.

Arrington and Fry also secured the endorsement of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has promoted Trump’s false and unfounded claims of a stolen election and on Saturday referred to the 2020 election as “the biggest crime in history.”

For Arrington, who announced her candidacy last month in a 2-minute online video, the Trump rally was her first major campaign appearance in the state.

For Fry, it was a chance to make a major pitch to voters in his congressional district and donors who were watching the event. His signs dominated the rally area and dotted the side of the road leading to the regional airport where the event was held.

McMaster also got a few minutes on the Trump rally stage. Like Arrington and Fry, Trump also has endorsed McMaster.

Trump invoked McMaster repeatedly in his speech, calling him by his first name, Henry.

“He’s promoting inexpensive gasoline for your cars, expensive gas. And he’s also an environmentalist. I have to tell you, Henry. We love you, Henry,” Trump said. “Henry, I hear you have like like no opposition. You better not have. You better not. Any Republican that goes after Henry. I’m going after that Republican. Nobody’s so stupid.”

The governor, who was an early Trump supporter and the first statewide elected official to endorse Trump when he was a presidential candidate, said America’s global strength began to crumble as soon as the “most controversial, questionable election in American history” ended.

McMaster in his brief remarks on the Trump rally stage blamed Biden for rising food and gas prices, and said his weakness emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine.

The rally was an all-day affair, even for people who didn’t attend. Trucks and cars zipped past, honking in support of the fanfare that unfolded in soggy fields next to the Florence Regional Airport during a cold, rainy and windy Saturday.

When the sun broke through the clouds as thousands filed into the rally area for the start of the program, the bundled-up crowd let out a shared “ahh” of appreciation.

Crowd members unfurled American flags that lined the bleachers as “YMCA” blared over the loudspeakers.

When Trump walked onstage, people raised their cellphones high in the air, whether they were in the front row or hundreds of feet away from the stage.

Earlier in the day, these thousands of people listened to other Republican speakers, like former Gamecocks football coach Lou Holtz and S.C. Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick.

Though state GOP leadership has long pledged neutrality in the primary election process, McKissick had a message to every South Carolina voter in attendance on Saturday.

“Our job is to get other folks who think just like us — someone standing next to us at work, sitting next to us at church — and we get them out to vote, and we win,” he said.

The Sun News’ Adam Benson and Dale Shoemaker contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 8:36 PM with the headline "Trump exacts revenge on 2 SC Republicans at Florence rally, tells voters to ‘dump’ them."