Since announcing his candidacy for the White House last month, Donald Trump has been called a gift to the Democratic Party — someone threatening to bring down his entire party with his anti-immigrant rhetoric. But one Florida congressman is alleging the Democratic Party has been onto it all along.
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), who represents Miami, claimed on Spanish-language media last week that Trump’s campaign could be a scheme orchestrated by the Democratic Party to hurt its rivals on the right, according to the Miami Herald.
Conversé con @ahoraoscarhaza por @z92miami sobre absurdos comentarios de @realDonaldTrump y ofrecí me teoría de que es un candidato fantasma
— Carlos Curbelo (@carloslcurbelo) July 9, 2015
“I spoke to @ahoraoscarhaza on @z92miami about absurd comments by @realDonaldTrump and I offered my theory that he’s a phantom candidate,” Curbelo tweeted last week in Spanish.
In a radio interview, he suggested that Trump is “a phantom candidate recruited by the left to create this entire political circus.” And then he repeated the claim in a separate interview, saying “there’s a small possibility that this gentleman is a phantom candidate.”
“Mr. Trump has a close friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Curbelo said in the interview. “They were at his last wedding. He has contributed to the Clintons’ foundation. He has contributed to Mrs. Clinton’s Senate campaigns. All of this is very suspicious.”
The Republican congressman, who said he supports former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) for president, has broken with his party by supporting immigration reform. But instead of denouncing Trump’s anti-immigrant remarks and using the opportunity to reshape the party’s image, Curbelo decided to seriously allege that the Democratic Party is to blame.
Max Steele, the communications director for the Florida Democratic Party, told the Miami Herald that Curbelo’s claims are absurd.
“Curbelo’s bizarre claim is an insult to the intelligence of his constituents and goes to show just how much damage Trump is doing to the Republican Party’s brand,” Steele said.