Put Rick Wilson down as one Republican who wouldn’t support Donald Trump if he emerges as the GOP presidential nominee.
The Florida-based media consultant has made it his mission to derail the businessman’s presidential campaign and rile up his fervent supporters, turning his popular Twitter feed into a running debate on The Donald’s candidacy.
From his location inside “Trump Tower, In Donald's Brain,” Wilson’s exchanges with a myriad of Trump’s supporters, unsurprisingly, often degenerate into agro name calling and even threats.
Wilson relishes poking this digital hornet’s nest. He gleefully retweets some of the more interesting responses to his 140-character jabs. “how much does Rick get to tweet against Trump 24/7? And was selling out the American ppl worth it?,” @vickypaz68 tweeted Dec. 10.
Describe how I'm "selling out the American people." Be specific. Show your work. https://t.co/bWw0xYLQVB
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 10, 2015
When exchanges turn nasty, Wilson has even invited those threatening him to “come on over" — bravado that got props from fellow GOP media consultant Stuart Stevens. “Bring a lunch,” Stevens told one would-be instigator.
Engaging in online skirmishes might sound like a waste of a media consultant’s time to some, but to Wilson it’s serious business.
“I think a lot of people still operate in a pre-social media mindset where they think we’re going to work in the smoke-filled backrooms,” Wilson told C&E. “I truly believe that we’re moving into the future where every part of the campaign’s going to be engaged [online] on some level.”
In fact, Wilson connects his Twitter war with Trumpland to earlier in his career when he went on leave from his job in the George H. W. Bush administration to go to New Orleans and defeat David Duke.
“I recognize what happens when a master showman stirs up the bottom of the political barrel,” he said. “I would vastly rather be beating [the Clinton campaign] to a pulp everyday. But right now what we’ve got to do is run against two sets of people — the campaign of Donald Trump and his supporters and the Clinton campaign.”
Now, Wilson does have a dog in the GOP presidential race: he’s working with Baby Got PAC, a Super PAC backing Sen. Marco Rubio. But his run-and-gun exchanges highlight a unique attempt by a consultant to personally derail the effort of a rival candidate and his supporters. Mind you, Wilson doesn’t consider Trump a Republican candidate. In July he tweeted: “Prove me wrong: @realDonaldTrump is a Democratic Party mole.”
The tweet is still drawing responses and Wilson maintains it’s a valid concern. “There’s not a conservative bone in his body,” he said.
Trump, until recently, had ignored Wilson even though he too is an avid Twitter user. On Dec. 9 he finally responded, although Trump noted it was after seeing one of Wilson's appearances on CNN.
Weak and totally conflicted people like @TheRickWilson shouldn't be allowed on television unless given an I.Q. test. Dumb as a rock! @CNN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2015
It drew some 1,500 retweets and gave Wilson a new group of trolls to engage.
“It’s a phenomenon I don’t think we’ve seen the likes of in our lifetimes because social media has reduced all the friction between campaigns, consultants, constituents and everyone else,” Wilson said. “If you have the opportunity to be out there altering the playing field a little bit you might as well use all the resources you have.”