BURLINGTON — Gov. Phil Scott called the Vermont Republican Party chair’s rhetoric blasting President Donald Trump’s critics “unfortunate” and said Thursday he wasn’t sure it was the best strategy for electing more Republicans in the state.
Deb Billado, the chair of the VTGOP, described Trump’s foes in an Aug. 10 message as a “mob of hate-crazed, fear-driven people who have become deranged because he upset their dreams (our nightmare) of electing crooked Hillary Clinton.”
Scott said that he believed political polarization in the country was “unhealthy” at his weekly press conference, which focused on the benefits of the $7.4 million increase in child care funding in the state’s budget.
“Activating the base with this type of rhetoric probably isn’t new, it’s being used by both parties in many respects, but I think it’s unfortunate,” Scott said. “We see this political divide, polarization going on throughout our country and all the rhetoric that goes along with it, I don’t think it’s healthy.”
Scott has publicly distanced himself from Trump on a number of issues, especially the president’s immigration agenda. This has put him at odds with Billado and other pro-Trump members of the party.
Billado’s 947-word message was published in the party’s official newsletter and sent to media organizations. She wrote that the congressional investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election was a “desperate, coup like attack on our duly elected President.”
“The web of wrongdoing, conspiracy, plotting and planning is too expansive to cover in this message, but suffice it to say that crimes have been committed, the Constitution has been assaulted by those who swore to defend and protect it, and now it is a matter of whether or not the truth will be revealed and who will go to jail,” Billado wrote.
In the message, Billado also took aim at Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, writing that Mueller was a “figurehead Republican” who had been “controlled” by “liberal Democrat activist” lawyers on his staff.
“We witnessed his feeble form and testimony before Congress that revealed he barely knew what happened in the investigation and obviously was not the person directing its conduct or writing the four-hundred-page report,” she wrote.
Scott said that he believed there were enough issues in Vermont to focus on without getting caught up in political rhetoric.
“I think some of the other rhetoric falls on deaf ears, and I don’t think it’s helpful at all to the public dialogue,” he said.
The leadership of the party is tasked with electing more Republicans, Scott said.
“I don’t know if this approach will help in that regard,” he said. “They have their mission and I have mine, which is to run the state at this point.”
Billado declined to respond to Scott’s criticism, saying via email that “it’s not my policy to comment on our governors comments.”
Despite Scott’s comfortable reelection in 2018, the GOP struggled down-ballot as Democrats picked up 12 state House seats. While moderate GOP incumbents tried to distance themselves from Trump during the campaign, the state party has more closely aligned itself with the president.
Following the election, Scott suggested the party needed new leadership. The party will be reorganized this fall, per state statute.
Billado’s message received some additional criticism from Republicans on social media. Sen. Corey Parent, R-Franklin, said on Twitter he was “disappointed” by Billado’s message.
“Our country is deeply divided and the email sent out only seeks to gain cheap political points based on that division,” he wrote. “It’s time we all do better.”
Correction: This story originally misidentified Sen. Cory Parent, R-Franklin, as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives.
