Maine Gov. Paul LePage begged Donald Trump to “show some authoritarian power” as president.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage begged Donald Trump to “show some authoritarian power” as president. | Getty

LePage rips Susan Collins over Trump

Maine Gov. Paul LePage attacked his state’s senior Republican senator Susan Collins on Monday, bashing the moderate Mainer for criticizing Donald Trump and begging the GOP nominee to “show some authoritarian power” if he becomes president.

Collins has refused to endorse Trump. And over the weekend she said that he is “unsuitable for the presidency” after Trump's sexually aggressive comments were leaked over the weekend.

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But LePage said Collins’s recent criticism of Trump was out of line, and called her out by name on Tuesday, declaring that they are essentially not part of the same party.

“I am not Condoleezza Rice fan, I am not a Susan Collins fan. That’s not the kind of Republican I am. I am from the Grand Old Party, I am from the party of Ronald Reagan,” LePage said on the Maine radio station WVOM. “That is different than the people that claim to be Republicans that are shooting their mouths off.”

“We need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law,” he added.

The shot at Collins is rare instance of intraparty conflict between Republican statewide elected officials of the same state. While clearly from different wings of the party, Collins has generally refrained from criticizing LePage for his antics, even when LePage left a lewd voicemail for a Democratic state lawmaker that had been criticizing him.

“Fortunately I’m a federal official,” she said in an interview in September after LePage hinted he might resign over the flap.

Collins office did not immediately comment on LePage's attack.

Republicans in Washington have buzzing that Collins might run to succeed LePage in 2018, though she has shown no public interest in doing so. LePage has hinted he could run against Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) that year when his term as governor ends. The state's politics are extremely tightknit: King beat Collins in the governor's race in 1994.

And after bashing Collins, who won 68 percent of the vote in her 2014 reelection, LePage praised Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine), who is not an enthusiastic Trump supporter. Poliquin is in a difficult reelection race against Democrat Emily Cain, whom he defeated in 2014 with 47 percent of the vote in Maine's Second District.

“If nothing else, he is probably the hardest working congressman in Washington,” LePage said of the first-term congressman. “Do I always agree with him? No. He’s given me some gray hairs sometimes.”