Rep. Tom Marino,
a Republican from the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, is jumping on the
Trump train.
Marino on Monday
became the fifth sitting member of Congress to publicly throw his support to
Donald Trump, as the Republican front-runner rolls toward Super Tuesday. In an
exclusive interview Monday with POLITICO, Marino, a former prosecutor, said
Trump has “overwhelming support” in his district because “he’s the man for the
unprotected ... not the protected, not for the Wall Street people, not for the
DC insiders, but for the hard-working taxpayers.”
The congressman
called endorsing Trump “one of my life-changing moments” — along with quitting
his job at 30 to go to college and law school, adopting his children, and
deciding to run for Congress in 2010.
The Pennsylvanian
shrugged off suggestions that Trump would damage the Republican Party's
electoral prospects in November, or that Trump's own recent statements would
damage him. “There will be many people now who say that if Trump’s [the
nominee], I’m not going to vote," Marino said. "And that’s just emotion
at this point.”
“Donald Trump is
saying what the voters agree on and what the voters are feeling,” Marino said,
adding that voters are angry at the political system generally.
"How’s it
going for us now?" Marino asked rhetorically. "Over the last 20
years, over the last Republican and Democrat presidents, senators as
presidents, governors as president, career politicians as president."
Marino said he
wasn't courted by Trump or anyone else, nor is he looking for anything from
Trump. “No one’s courted me," he said. "I’m just a third term
congressman from rural Pennsylvania.”
He joins
Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter (Calif.) and Chris Collins (N.Y.) and Sen. Jeff
Sessions (Ala.) in officially endorsing Trump, while Rep. Scott DesJarlais
(R-Tenn.) declared Monday that he voted for Trump in his state's
primary.
Read More at: Politico
