By Greg Oliver

Courtesy The Journal

goliver@upstatetoday.com

CLEMSON — Outgoing Republican state Rep. Gary Clary has been named to a committee of fellow Republicans looking to defeat President Donalda Trump this year.

“When you have someone who is just a demagogue who wants to attack — whether it’s women, the press, minorities, the disabled — it’s just not something I believe that a president should be doing,” Clary said Thursday of his decision to serve as legislative outreach chairman for National Republicans.

Clary said he didn’t support Trump’s initial presidential bid in 2016, backing Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead. But when Trump received the Republican nomination and was eventually elected president, Clary said he tried to be supportive.

“Just like every other president I voted for or against, I have always supported them and tried to find a way to understand where they’re coming from and work for the common good,” Clary said. “Even if you don’t agree with their political views or the way they handle themselves, there’s always the next election. With President Trump, I was hopeful we were going to get out of this campaign mode and settle down and go about governing the country. But that’s something that hasn’t really changed in three and a half years.”

The Central resident said he doesn’t like Trump’s “method of simply bullying people, criticizing, ridiculing, attack mode.”

“I get that politics is a really rough thing to get into, and certainly not for the thin-skinned, but he is someone who takes it to a new level,” Clary said.

The retired judge said he has been a Republican “for much longer than most people have been around” but has grown increasingly frustrated by the “schism within our party where people aren’t Republicans anymore. They’re conservative.”

“I believe in everything Republicans believe in when you reaffirm the constitution’s fundamental principles, limited government, separation of powers, individual liberty and the rule of law,” he said. “But I also believed that the Republican Party was a big-tent party, and now I don’t know it’s that way anymore. I’ve always viewed the Republican Party as one of inclusion, not exclusion, and can no longer sit on the sideline and allow this to happen for four more years.”

Clary said he was encouraged to join the committee by fellow judge and good friend Bob Orr, a former associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court and past gubernatorial candidate. The two first met when campaigning for Kasich, and while Clary said there is no move to draft another Republican candidate, the purpose of the committee instead is to inform people about what they need to look for in a candidate.

“There are probably other people who will be on the ballot, so there’s always multiple voices,” Clary said. “Four years ago, there was Trump, (Democratic nominee Hillary) Clinton, (independent nominee) Evan McMullin and (Libertarian nominee) Gary Johnson. This national group I’m a part of, we firmly believe President Trump isn’t a uniter — he’s a divider.”

When asked about his role within the committee, Clary said he would be a contact for like-minded legislators who also have issues with Trump in an effort to “hopefully bring more people into the fold.”

“As politicians, it’s difficult to get them to take stands when they have their own races to run, to alienate their voters or people who may vote for them,” he said. “But this is really important, and hopefully there will be more people to come along. I talk to people on a daily basis from all around, and this is not a subject that goes unnoticed. It’s on a lot of people’s minds, but some people won’t speak up. I have spoken up, and that’s where I am.”

Clary said while all presidents have flaws, the constant attacks and Twitter flurries by Trump “just don’t make sense.”

“I’m on Twitter, and I’m sometimes astounded by the Twitter feed that comes from the highest office in the land and in the world,” Clary said. “Over the past three and a half years, we’ve alienated allies and cozied up to dictators and communists and folks like that. I understand diplomacy, but there’s a disconnect.

“It just reached the point where I couldn’t look my children and grandchildren in the eye and say ‘I can support this man.’”

goliver@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6687

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