Evan McMullin fired back against Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and other conservative critics Friday, in comments that underscore the deep rift Donald Trump's nomination has caused in the GOP.
McMullin is an independent presidential candidate running as a conservative alternative to Trump. He has made Utah — a normally reliable state for Republicans — unusually competitive, prompting anger from some of Trump's most vocal supporters.
“Who's this idiot that's running third party that's killing Trump out in Utah?" Hannity said on on his radio show Wednesday. "Who put him up? Was it the Bush people, the Romney people?”
Then there was a Dobbs tweet calling McMullin the "globalist, Romney, and Mormon Mafia Tool."
McMullin, asked about the criticism on CNN on Friday, questioned whether Trump's biggest boosters in the media are even true conservatives, echoing criticism from many prominent conservatives who disapprove of Trump's inflammatory rhetoric, opposition to trade deals and other aspects of his candidacy.
“It's interesting that these people, who consider themselves so-called conservatives, especially Sean Hannity, would so attack us," he said. "You have to ask yourself: At this point what do these men really stand for?”
“Why would they stand with Donald Trump if they're true conservatives as he attacks people based on their faith, their race, their gender?" he added. "And in fact, I think we have to ask ourselves, what does the Republican Party stand for anymore?”
That question is sure to linger, whether Trump wins or loses the election or McMullin fades away.