Maine Gov. Paul LePage calls Donald Trump ‘lesser of two evils’
LePage says Trump was his third pick for president.
So much for the bromance; even Paul LePage appears to be distancing himself from Donald Trump.
At a business event Wednesday in Augusta, the Maine governor called Trump “the lesser of two evils” and divulged that he would have preferred former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to be president, the Portland Press Herald reported.
Despite endorsing Trump in February, LePage revealed that the eventual Republican nominee was just his third choice.
The two-term Republican governor initially endorsed Chris Christie for president last July; however the New Jersey governor dropped out in February following the New Hampshire primary (Bush dropped out less than two weeks later).
“I am supporting Donald Trump. It’s a situation of the lesser of two evils,” LePage said Wednesday at a business breakfast hosted by the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, according to the Press Herald.
The words—from the man who was the second governor in the country, shortly following Christie, to endorse Trump—come at a time when the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign undergoes yet another staff overhaul, as he trails Hillary Clinton in polls across the country.
Trump appeared at rally in Bangor along with the Maine governor in late June, where the two Republicans, known for their blunt styles, appeared to be friendly on stage.
“He’s a great, great guy,” Trump said of LePage.
In August, Trump said that if he is elected president, LePage has an open job offer in his administration. In May, LePage jokingly suggested that he would be open a particularly cozy position as an ambassador: “Canada in the summer and Jamaica in the winter.”
In February, The New York Times reported that LePage called for Republican governors to publicly disavow Trump during a private meeting—one week before the governor endorsed him.
In his comments Wednesday, LePage expressed his greater concerns with Hillary Clinton, particularly her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, which killed four Americans. He called the then-secretary of state’s response to the attacks “repugnant.”
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