President Donald Trump appears to be distracting himself from the GOP’s humiliating midterms wipeout by whining about a MAGA reality star’s third-place finish in a race five months ago.
Trump, 80, praised Spencer Pratt for running a “great” campaign for Los Angeles mayor—but also said the former star of The Hills should have dragged out the fight a little longer.
Pratt, 43, made an embarrassing third-place finish in the L.A. mayoral primary on June 2, trailing behind incumbent mayor Karen Bass and now mayor-elect Nithya Raman despite his push for virality.
Spencer Pratt finished third in the Los Angeles mayoral primary.
HIGHFIVE/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
“Well, Pratt did a great job. He ran great,” Trump told Salem News Channel on Thursday, five months after the Republican candidate lost the race. “He was—I don’t know about first place—but he certainly qualified to run.”
“The only thing is that Spencer Pratt made one mistake,” the president continued. “He didn’t protest. I have not seen him protest at all and he should have protested. I told him that was a rigged election. There’s no question about it.”
Pratt’s claim to fame is the reality show “The Hills.”
Pratt did exactly that after losing the election in June. In a video titled “Saving L.A.,” Pratt vowed to remain active in local politics while slinging shots at his Democratic foes.
“You thought you could get rid of me that easily?” he said. “I didn’t get in this for political power; I got in this to expose this corrupt machine, and nothing’s changed.”
“And now I don’t have to worry about offending CNN viewers. I don’t have a campaign to hamstring me now. It’s war,” he added.
Pratt then took aim at his opponents.
“Angelenos are now stuck with two morons responsible for all their problems and now have to choose between dumb and dumber,” he said, adding that “every problem that plagues Los Angeles because of these two corrupt communists is going to accelerate” under their leadership.
Karen Bass will be succeeded by Nithya Raman as L.A. mayor.
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Museum of Tolerance
Pratt’s supporters—boosted online by none other than tech billionaire Elon Musk—cried electoral fraud after the election, citing an apparent pause in The Associated Press’ vote tally.
A federal audit found, however, that those claims were false. The AP said the discrepancy stemmed from a brief lag in an automated system that led to Pratt’s vote count being updated a minute later than others.
Pratt’s loss to Raman immediately triggered an outpouring of conspiracy theories from Pratt’s disappointed MAGA supporters.
Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“There was a claim circulating on social media about an election night ballot update at the Los Angeles Registrar of Voters where one candidate received zero votes,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.
“We reviewed official county records. The claim is false. Each candidate received votes in every update.”
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