“Dan Cox, the guy we were hearing about yesterday is a QAnon whackjob.”
Harsh words from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R).
Hogan’s comments came Tuesday during a press conference on rising Baltimore City crime – a day after former President Donald J. Trump unsurprisingly endorsed Dan Cox’s Maryland gubernatorial bid.
For months, Dan Cox, a loyal footsoldier in the MAGA army, groveled incessantly for Big Daddy Trump’s attention and affection.
Look at me! Look at me! I can be just as crazy and ineffective as you, Big Daddy Trump!
On Monday, three days before Thanksgiving, Dan Cox’s Big Daddy Trump threw a bone to his Maryland pet.
Cox and Trump met Monday in Annapolis at the Naval Academy, ostensibly to hash out the details of the endorsement.
Take a moment to picture Monday’s Annapolis meeting between Trump and Cox.
You could picture Trump reapplying hand sanitizer multiple times after shaking fanboy Cox’s sweaty hand.
And imagine Dan Cox, whose face is most commonly used as a reference point in virtually every police-sketch drawing, grinning loudly at the mere sight of Trump.
It’s surprising Trump didn’t encourage Cox to storm the Annapolis State House and perform a citizen’s arrest on Larry Hogan.
Whatever happened during Cox’s 20-minute meeting with Joseph Goebbels Jr., Cox left with a prized endorsement likely to seal his fate.
Trump Attacks Hogan In Cox Endorsement
Donald Trump’s endorsement of Dan Cox is not so much an endorsement of Dan Cox’s gubernatorial bid.
It’s a way for Trump to attack Hogan.
Donald Trump probably has no earthly idea who the hell Dan Cox is – and he probably doesn’t care.
But Trump despises Hogan.
Donald Trump’s trip to Annapolis was the perfect missed opportunity for Trump to solicit a reference from Hogan about hiring his former chief of staff, Roy McGrath.
Mr. Trump has a penchant for surrounding himself with only the best federally indicted men of high repute.
And now that McGrath is living in Florida, Mar-a-Lago is only one severance payment away per weekend!
But why is Hogan on Trump’s shit-list?
Because Hogan is a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate.
Realistically, Hogan poses no imminent threat to Trump whatsoever in a Republican presidential primary.
There’s no chance that Hogan, an accomplished moderate-leaning respected two-term Maryland governor, earns the support of the crazy wing of the GOP.
Moreover, Mr. Hogan had drawn Trump’s ire when Hogan refused to endorse Trump twice – once in the 2016 presidential contest and again in 2020.
In 2016, Hogan claimed to have written in his father for president, Lawrence J. Hogan Sr.
In the 2020 presidential contest, Hogan told reporters he voted for Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former U.S. president who died in June 2004.
With little over a year left in his final gubernatorial term, however, Larry Hogan has no F’s left to give.
Mr. Hogan, whose Twitter account wasn’t permanently suspended in January 2021, clapped back at Trump after Cox announced on social media that the former president endorsed his doomed-from-the-start gubernatorial campaign.
Hogan’s tweet below references Trump losing Maryland by over 33 points in the 2020 presidential election.
And on Tuesday, Hogan referenced Cox’s Jan. 6 tweet in which Cox called former Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor.”
“The voters of Maryland are going to make their own decision about who they think the next governor should be – and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be the crazy QAnon guy,” Hogan said.
Below is a photograph of Cox and Pence pictured together.
Donald Trump’s Dan Cox Endorsement
Donald Trump’s endorsement of any Maryland politician is as toxic as a urinal cake in Chernobyl.
Narrated to circus music and a sitcom laugh track, Trump’s endorsement of Cox’s gubernatorial campaign is everything you would expect from a former president who once gawked at a solar eclipse and encouraged U.S. health officials to study whether injecting bleach into the body is an effective COVID-19 treatment.
Trump began by calling Cox an “American First Patriot” and a “tough lawyer, and a smart businessman.”
“Dan has done outstanding work in the Maryland General Assembly,” Trump said.
Quick fact check: Cox’s record-long legislative accomplishment list includes passing fewer than five bills since being sworn into the Maryland General Assembly in January 2019.
“Dan is MAGA all the way – unlike his opponent Kelly Schulz, who was handpicked by her ‘boss,’ RINO Larry Hogan, who has been terrible for our Country and is against the America First Movement.”
(Trump originally misspelled Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz’s name. Team Trump did update its press release with the correct spelling of Schulz’s last name)
Incidentally, “MAGA all the way” is Trump’s way of telling Dan Cox to hire a lawyer who paints on their hair.
Dan Cox, Trump said, “fought against the Rigged Presidential Election every step of the way and will bring secure Elections back to Maryland.”
Demonstrating blind fealty to Trump and Trump alone is virtually the only requirement to earning his seal of approval.
And what better way for Republicans to demonstrate allegiance to Donald Trump than exacerbating the big lie that Trump won the 2020 election as a result of massive election fraud?
On Tuesday, Dan Cox signed a letter alongside 185 state legislators from 39 states calling for a “50-State Audit” of the 2020 presidential election won by Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“We call on each state to decertify its electors where it has been shown the elections were certified prematurely and inaccurately,” the letter says.
The Justice Department said there were no signs of widespread fraud,” The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
“A bipartisan consortium of local, state and federal election officials declared the 2020 race the most secure U.S. election in history.
What is The QAnon Conspiracy Theory?
The New York Times describes the QAnon conspiracy theory as an “umbrella term for a set of internet conspiracy theories that allege, falsely, that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles runs the word.”
“QAnon followers believe that this cabal includes top Democrats like President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros.”
“Hollywood celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres and religious figures including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama” are also part of the conspiracy, the Times reports.
Tom Hanks.
What about Wilson, the volleyball?
The Pope, God bless him.
Barack Obama, without a doubt.
Hillary Clinton, naturally.
But Ellen? Really?
And, of course, George Soros.
QAnon adherents “also believe that, in addition to molesting children, members of this group kill and eat their victims to extract a life-extending chemical called adrenochrome,” the Times reports.
But only one person – one hero, sent from the Gods above – is capable of single-handily toppling the Deep State-run baby-eating underground sex ring!
Inquiring minds want to know.
Why Donald Trump, of course!
According to the Times report, “Donald Trump was recruited by top military generals to run for president in 2016 to break up this criminal conspiracy and bring its members to justice.”
But wait, there’s a twist!
The cabal members “will soon be arrested, the theory goes, and some will be imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, while others will face military tribunals and be executed.”
Entirely plausible.
For a comprehensive look into the QAnon conspiracy theory, read CBS News‘ March 2021 report.
Is Dan Cox A QAnon Adherent?
Quite possibly, yes.
Cox, though, is a master gaslighter; he’ll never admit a QAnon allegiance outright.
On Oct. 23, 2020, Cox tweeted straight from the QAnon handbook.
Like Trump, Cox will blame and cast suspicion on anybody who questions him.
The Frederick News-Post reported in October 2020 that Dax Cox tweeted the QAnon-related hashtag, #WWG1WGA.
#WWG1WGA is considered QAnon’s rallying cry: “Where We Go One, We Go All.”
The line comes from the 1996 Jeff Bridges movie “White Squall.”
The News-Post reached out to Cox for comment.
When reached, Cox did not dispute his QAnon tweet, nor did he deny his affiliation with the fringe movement.
“‘Trump is hopeful and will lift us up like our motto, E Pluribus Unum — out of many One,’ Cox wrote in a text,” the New-Post reported.
Cox doubled down on crazy in his response to the News-Post reporter.
“‘We need unity and Biden is for locking us down, canceling school, proms and sports, and calling riots peaceful, while his corruption is now shockingly known. I support President Trump and General Flynn and that’s all my point was about.'”
Remember Michael Flynn?
He’s the retired three-star U.S. Army general who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser early on in Trump’s presidency.
Flynn resigned his post in February 2017 after lying about two December 2016 conversations with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in a January 2017 interview with the FBI.
Trump pardoned Flynn in December 2020 after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.
Recap: In October 2020, Dan Cox, a sitting Maryland lawmaker, tweeted a hashtag directly and unequivocally associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Cox hasn’t condemned QAnon.
And Cox hasn’t disavowed any association with the fringe group.
He cannot condemn QAnon.
Why?
Because QAnon conspiracy theorists and fringe weirdos make up a large chunk of Cox’s political base.
Dan Cox Cries Defamation Over Hogan’s “Whackjob” Characterization
Following in lockstep with the MAGA playbook, Dan Cox never misses an opportunity to turn himself into a helpless victim.
On Tuesday afternoon, victim Cox fired up his Facebook account and blasted the governor over his characterization of Cox as “QAnon whackjob.”
Cox’s Facebook condemnation, written in crayon while the world’s smallest violin was playing in the background, claims Hogan “childishly attacked” him “with all sorts of defamation from the second floor of the State House.”
Incidentally, Dan Cox is likely to request directions from fellow lawmakers to the “second floor of the State House.”
The second floor is exclusively reserved for *successful lawmakers” privileged to join the governor during bill signing ceremonies.
Cox claims Hogan used his “official offices press conference room and press conference” to campaign against Cox for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Unlike Del. Cox’s gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Hogan’s staff use official government emails – not Gmail accounts – to share its press releases.
Cox further scolded Hogan for trashing his hero, Big Daddy Trump.
“Hogan,” Cox wrote, while frowning, “further smeared and attacked President Donald J. Trump on campaign related (sic) endorsements such as his endorsement of me – doing so again from the same official offices in the State House.
Then Cox uses the “D-Word.”
“While our campaign is reviewing both Hogan’s defamatory statements and use of his official offices to childishly smear and campaign against me, I wanted to make a personal statement that I prayed for the Gov when he fought cancer and won.”
New York Times Co v. Sullivan
Mr. Cox fancies himself as a “constitutional lawyer.”
In which case, Mr. Cox should immediatly brush up on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
This landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision established the “actual malice” standard in public figure defamation actions.
Gov. Hogan clearly stated an opinion.
Tweeting QAnon hashtags and refusing to condemn QAnon as anything other than an absurd and dangerous conspiracy theory certainly qualifies someone as meeting the whackjob threshold.
Mr. Cox should expect to lose in court to Mr. Hogan in any phony defamation suit.
After all, Dan Cox knows what it’s like to lose to Hogan in court.
Hogan To Campaign For Kelly Schulz
The governor on Tuesday announced that he’s supporting Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz (R) for governor.
“Secretary Schulz has done an incredible job for us for the past seven years.”
Hogan called Schulz a longtime friend and said she’s done a “terrific job” as both Labor and Commerce secretary within his administration.
Kelly Schulz would “make a great governor,” Hogan said.
Hogan said he fully intends on getting involved with helping Schulz’s Republican gubernatorial campaign.
