(AP) — An Indiana Senate candidate who carries a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump to campaign rallies and ridicules one of his opponents for being a “Never Trumper” harshly criticized the future president as “vulgar” during a little-noticed 2016 interview.
Republican Rep. Todd Rokita has based his Senate campaign on an appeal to Trump voters in Indiana, where the president won by 19 points. He even dons one of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats in a recent TV ad.
But he had exceptionally harsh words for then-presidential candidate Trump in a February 2016 interview with Indianapolis-based WXIN TV.
Rokita said in the interview that he supports Republican candidate Marco Rubio. He criticized Trump as someone who is “vulgar, if not profane.”
Rokita adds: “At some point you have to be presidential.”