Given the amount of bandwidth my news outlet has devoted over the years to the sheer insanity that is politics in Horry county, South Carolina, I should have known the ongoing schism within the S.C. Republican party (SCGOP) would hit a new level of nuttiness upon reaching the Grand Strand (a.k.a. the “Redneck Riviera”).
And has it ever …
According to MyrtleBeachSC.com – a website which doesn’t always land its punches – a local conservative talk show host/ event organizer has been accused of assaulting a candidate for party office.
With his saliva …
Chad Caton – who is hosting a “Unite for the Republic” rally in Aynor, S.C. this evening starring former national security advisor Michael Flynn – was accused by former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Jim Furry of spitting in his face during a confrontation on April 13, 2021 in the parking lot of The Dunes golf and beach club.
According to an incident report filed by Furry with the Horry county police department, Caton was verbally accosting one of his friends who had previously gotten in a dispute with the aspiring right-wing “shock jock” inside the club.
Furry said that when he “stepped in front of” Caton to prevent him from “possibly getting into an altercation” with this individual, Caton “loudly told (him) to get out of the way” and eventually “spit in (his) nose and mouth area.”
The two then squared off in the parking lot with at least one bystander allegedly filming the exchange on a cell phone.
Here is the report Furry filed (in which he declined to press charges) …
(Click to view)
(Via: Horry County Police Department)
According to Furry, he and Caton concluded their brief interaction “face-to-face … within an inch of each other” with the following exchange …
CATON: You piece of sh*t.
FURRY: F*ck you.
Such a high-minded exchange of ideas, right? Although sadly, it is par for the course in the rough-and-tumble Palmetto State.
As for the alleged “great expectoration,” Caton denied spitting in Furry’s face when I questioned him on Wednesday afternoon.
“No sir, I didn’t,” he told me.
Caton declined to elaborate further on his recollection of the exchange with Furry, though, saying he was “focused on our event with general Flynn.”
“All this is a distraction from this amazing fundraising event for our local charities affected as we all were by Covid-19,” Caton said.
Caton’s event was originally touted by activists as a rally for famed attorney Lin Wood, who moved to South Carolina recently to challenge incumbent SCGOP chairman Drew McKissick. Wood and his slate of candidates – backed by the MySCGOP.com organization – have captured a surprising number of delegates to this spring’s SCGOP convention (especially in the GOP-heavy Upstate).
As I noted previously, I believe the battle currently raging for control of the state party represents a key front in the larger civil war taking place within the GOP. Not to mention a harbinger of the 2022 primary election cycle … and for that matter the 2024 presidential primary.
Caton clarified, however, that the Flynn event was not a rally for Wood’s campaign but rather for a specific slate of candidates seeking party office in Horry county.
Furry, incidentally, is running against one of those candidates – Tracey Beanz, editor-in-chief of the conservative website UncoverDC. The two are competing for Horry county’s seat on the SCGOP statewide executive committee.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: FITSNews)
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading.
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