“You have Mehmet Oz, who has never used his public platform to advance our America First agenda. He never has. And now we’re being told he’s a MAGA conservative. Never,” she said before attacking McCormick over the tie hedge fund he previously ran needs to go to China. “You can’t be in bed with China financially if you aren’t also in bed with China ideologically. … And yet they’re telling us they’re conservative. Be careful.”
McCormick on Friday described his work in China as “negotiating against” the country, adding that “nobody has the credentials and toughness to go toe-to-toe with China like I do.”
She added: “Look at the video they made right? I have never supported Black Lives Matter. I never said our country is systemically racist. In fact, I’ve always said the opposite, I’ve always said that my story just shows you how far we’ve come as a nation.”
Trump’s endorsement of Oz has sparked a backlash from conservative activists in Pennsylvania, some of whom are drawn to Barnette over the former president’s decision.
Trump said in a statement Thursday that Barnette was not a viable candidate for the general election.
“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the general election against the radical left Democrats,” he said.
“Nobody talks about my old tweets,” she said. “You have to go almost 10 years into the past to … not find a full thought or sentence and say that’s her.”
Barnette also attacked Fox host Sean Hannity, who had Oz on his show, asking him about some of her previous tweets. She told the audience that Hannity is “doing exactly what he and others have said about the left, he is sowing disinformation, to stifle our voice, to steal an election. That’s exactly what they do.”
Barnette challenged that assumption Saturday, arguing that the Republican Party often makes mistakes when picking candidates.
“I think the Republican Party has the best history. … We keep picking people who are bad at telling our story. We do,” she said. “We keep picking the same old people and we think we’re going to get a different result.”
Criticizing her, she added: “Your problem with me is that I didn’t ask for permission. I didn’t ask for permission. I just walked out the front door.”