Dem lawmaker: Every time Trump says something stupid, an angel gets its wings

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday suggested that President Trump is helping Democrats with some of his endorsements, saying “an angel gets its wings” when “Trump says something stupid like that” in reference to Trump’s endorsement of Kris Kobach for governor of Kansas.

“The American in me is furious and I think it’s a disgrace,” Maloney said on MSNBC of Trump’s endorsement of Kobach, calling Kobach a “nut.”

“But the Democrat in me says keep it up, buddy,” he added.

{mosads}Trump endorsed Kobach on Monday, one day ahead of the Kansas gubernatorial primary, despite some Republicans’ concern that Kobach will lose the general election.

Maloney said that type of endorsement and Trump’s brand of politics is damaging the Republican party.

“The short-term bump guys like Kobach, who’s a nut, get from Donald Trump, is one thing,” Maloney said. “But the long-term damage to the Republican party is happening in the suburbs of Ohio today. That’s why you see that race that is so close.”

Maloney pointed to the special House election in central Ohio, which also happens on Tuesday, where polls indicate a tight race between Democrat Danny O’Connor and Republican Troy Balderson.

Trump endorsed Balderson in July.

The president’s endorsement of Kobach was seen as a snub to incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer (R), who took office in January after Trump nominated former Gov. Sam Brownback (R) to a position in the State Department. 

Kobach, currently the secretary of state in Kansas, has developed a reputation for his hard-line stance on immigration and his efforts to pass voter identification legislation. He was previously the vice chairman of Trump’s voter fraud commission, which was created after Trump claimed, without evidence, that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, costing him the popular vote. The commission was shut down in January, with the president blaming legal disputes and transferring the issue of voter fraud investigations to the Department of Homeland Security.

Kobach has also been endorsed by Donald Trump Jr., who campaigned for Kobach in July.