A Trump-backed Republican House candidate in South Carolina called a former top official in the Trump administration “a true piece of shit” in a private text unearthed by The State.
In a series of texts between congressional candidate Katie Arrington and former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Arrington insulted Mulvaney with the four-letter word in a Monday morning text that the newspaper obtained and reviewed on Wednesday.
“You really are a true piece of shit,” Arrington texted Mulvaney, according to screenshots provided by The State.
“Ha! You have no idea. What did I do now?” the former Trump official responded.
“You’re just not the person I thought you were,” Arrington replied back, later referencing texts from 2018 she said she would not share to “make you look like a jack ass.”
“Because then you would really would look like the piece of shit that you turning out to be,” she added.
Mulvaney, who represented South Carolina’s 5th District from 2011 to 2017, fired back that Arrington “might be unstable” and sent a winking emoji after pointing out punctuation problems in her texts.
Arrington continued to text, at one point referring to Mulvaney’s departure as chief of staff and appointment as U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.
“Nope just can’t stand two faced folks,” Arrington texted. “No wonder you were fired and as an Irish catholic sent to Northern Ireland.”
“And now we have religion,” Mulvaney fired back.
Catholics have long been a minority in Northern Ireland, though the gap with Protestants has been closing.
“Again: you may be unfit for office. Seriously. It may be time for some deep introspection,” he added, to which Arrington replied “ditto” and “pls.”
The newspaper noted that the exchange came close to four hours after NBC News published a story in which Mulvaney weighed in on Arrington’s campaign.
“She’s not the best candidate by any stretch of imagination,” Mulvaney told NBC News. “And I guess it’s enough for Donald Trump that she’s not Nancy Mace.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is the incumbent being challenged by Arrington. Mace has at times criticized former President Trump, who has fired back at her.
“Katie lost the SC-1 race in 2018 to a Democrat, making her the only Republican in decades to lose this seat. She lost because she couldn’t unite the party after a bitter primary. And it doesn’t seem that she’s learned anything from that humiliation,” Mulvaney said in a statement to The Hill.
“Calling someone a ‘piece of sh—‘ because they support your opponent in a primary is a giant red flag that politics — and more importantly, lawmaking — really isn’t for you.”
Chris D’Anna, a spokesperson for Arrington’s campaign, alleged Mulvaney had leaked the text message exchange and called him and Mace “leaders of the Never Trump Movement.”
“It’s disappointing that Mick would leak the contents of a private conversation. Mick Mulvaney and Nancy Mace teaming up together is par for the course, considering they both used President Trump to advance their own careers, only to stab him in the back,” D’Anna said in a statement. “We wish them nothing but the best in their quest to be the leaders of the Never Trump Movement.”
Updated at 3:50 p.m.