SOMERSET, NJ – New Jersey GOP Candidate for Governor Jack Ciattarelli has never been a fan of President Donald J. Trump, and this week, he slammed the former president over his bizarre and critical eulogy of former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Powell died on Monday from complications of COVID-19. He was fully vaccinated according to his family.
“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace,” Trump blogged on his website.
Ciattarelli responded.
“Secretary Colin Powell was a Vietnam veteran and a trailblazing statesman. He deserves better than President Trump’s petty insults upon his passing,” Ciattarelli said.
Ciattarelli’s election opponent Phil Murphy agreed with the GOP candidate.
“Former President Trump’s comments on the late General Colin Powell are among the worst and most despicable things he’s ever said, which is saying something. May his comments serve as a reminder of what our country sharply rejected last fall,” Murphy said.
Now, Ciattarelli is dealing with the fallout from the right over his comment against the former President, just days before an election where every vote is critical to the Republican candidate who trails his Democrat opponent by more than 10 points in non-partisan polls.
“Eh, Jack I would’ve stayed out of this one,” a Twitter user advised the candidate.
“You were better off saying nothing and staying out of it. You were doing great,” another commented.
This isn’t the first time the GOP candidate has criticized the President. He has previously called Trump a “charlatan” who was “unfit to be President”. Ciattarelli has also blamed Trump for the January 6th breach of the U.S. Capitol and says the former President is to blame for employer vaccine mandates.
“I know a great many people don’t like these, uh employer decisions, at the same time, the Trump employment courts did decide, did rule that employers have the right to make this a condition of employment,” Ciattarelli said of the vaccine mandates. “It’s another way of encouraging them in a very, very strenuous manner to get vaccinated, but employers do reserve that right.”
“I believe Donald Trump’s rhetoric is what led to the riot that took place, I believe it was on January 6th,” Ciattarelli said of the January 6th incident in Washington, D.C.
The former President has not yet made an endorsement in the New Jersey Gubernatorial Election and it’s likely that he will not endorse Ciattarelli.