Rep. Madison Cawthorn.Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The North Carolina Republican, 26, has a history ofheadline-making behaviorandsometimes controversial remarks, most recently when he suggested other lawmakers in Washington, D.C., weredoing drugs and engaging in orgies.
Elected in 2020 at age 25, he isone of the youngest representativesin history and has built a national profile both on his personal backstory (he uses a wheelchair after being paralyzed in a car crash) and a penchant forTrump-style provocation.
The images show Cawthorn sitting down while wearing a black bra over a sleeveless, see-through top.
Politico
On Twitter on Friday, Cawthornwrote thatthe photos were in jest and indicated they were taken during part of an activity on a cruise.
He linked the leak to his Democratic opponents, despite evidence of their role.
“I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me?” Cawthorn wrote. “They’re running out of things to throw at me…”
In his tweet, Cawthorn also urged followers to “share their most embarrassing vacay pics in the replies.”
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“Some of the people that are leading on the movement to try to remove addiction in our country, then you watch them do a key bump of cocaine in front of you,” he said at the time.
“The culture in Washington is corrupt. Human nature is fallen. Compromising activities occur because when other people can place you in compromising positions, they control you. It’s all about power — but my colleagues and I are fighting that corruption,” he wrote.
Cawthorn galvanized support (and garnered backlash) with his outspoken campaign style before winning his race in November 2020. His first statement after defeating opponent Moe Davis wasa tweetreading “Cry more, lib.”
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In the past, Cawthorn has been open about his conservative views regarding gender and sexuality, including tweeting that there is “only one God and only two genders.”
“I think that we have bred a generation of soft men and that generation has created a lot of problems in our society and our culture,” Cawthorn said on theOrder of Manpodcast in 2021.
“I don’t care that Madison Cawthorn likes to wear lingerie in his free time. It doesn’t bother me, and it doesn’t affect me. If he wants to be playful with gender expression, it’s his life,” Clymerwrote on Twitteron Friday. “I do care that Madison Cawthorn attacks trans people and shames us for living our lives.”
source: people.com
