Nevada Gadfly George Harris Swings At Adam Laxalt But Misses with Trump

Groucho Marx once said, ‘Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.’

Gutter politics is, by most polling accounts, the wrong remedy. For Republicans in 2021, pissing off former President Donald Trump is also the wrong remedy. Yet, the right hand man of one of President Donald Trump’s biggest supporter in Nevada, Don Ahern, has done just that.

Today, the Review Journal published a scoop by Blake Apgar in which Ahern “said he has spoken with Trump multiple times in recent months and has encouraged the former president to change his endorsement from presumed frontrunner Adam Laxalt to underdog candidate Sam Brown.”

Now the Globe can report that George Harris, President of Ahern Hotels, an outspoken Army veteran, tequila brand CEO, UFOlogist, and well-connected Republican, has decided to sling some personalized Twitter mud at Laxalt. Harris even targets, by implication, Laxalt’s mother, Michelle Laxalt, who is the daughter of beloved former Republican Nevada Governor and U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt.

In a series of obnoxious, below-the-belt tweets, one since deleted, Harris basically attacked Laxalt for having been raised by a single mother.

And Harris is not backing down.

In a candid conversation with the Nevada Globe, Harris, a volunteer for Captain Sam Brown, doubled down on his tweets:

‘I am who I am and I say what I say. My tweets are my tweets. They stand for themselves. People want to know why Adam isn’t using his father’s name. I have had over 100 people over the years ask me that question. Sam (Brown) is a war hero, Adam is a total zero. Adam is just Adam. He will never win the primary. Sam will win the primary. I love President Trump. I bundled $8.9 million for him. Ask Caroline Wren. She could verify. I believe the President made a mistake. Trump endorsed Dean Heller and it didn’t help him win the Senate. Ric Grenell is enamored by Adam Laxalt and convinced the Trump campaign to endorse Adam. The President knows I have an enormous amount of influence in Nevada.’ 

The odds that “over 100 people” have actually asked Harris about Laxalt’s parentage—which is widely known and easily discovered on Wikipedia and elsewhere—seem about as likely as an appearance by the aliens Harris has been “researching.” However, the appearance of this level of tea so early in a race shows how high the stakes are as local and national GOP interests smell an opportunity to pick up a seat.

In a follow-up question, when asked if Harris would support Laxalt should Laxalt win the primary, Harris told the Globe, “He won’t win the primary.”

President Trump, through his spokesman, Taylor Budowich, issued a statement to The Nevada Globe to reinforce his endorsement.

“I’ve known Adam Laxalt for a long time and support him 100%.”

This probably isn’t the first time that a former President has issued a strong re-endorsement, and it’s definitely not the first time that politics became personal.

Meanwhile, Laxalt backers don’t seem particularly rattled by Harris’ nastygrams.

A source close to both the former President and the Laxalt campaign told The Nevada Globe, “There are too many people who think that Donald Trump isn’t paying attention to the details. And those people are really just undermining President Trump because he’s made decisions according to what he knows is best for the country and for himself. There are some people in Nevada who think they know President Trump, but President Trump has no idea who they are.”

Perhaps those supporting Laxalt are unaware of Harris’ self-proclaimed penchant for predicting the future. According to an earlier story in the Review Journal, Harris believes himself to have “a high clairvoyancy.” Harris explained that he’s “not a fortune teller” but still possessed some skill in that department. “I can see things before they happen. I can see somebody walk by and tell if that person’s going to die in three months.”