EXCLUSIVE — Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher has changed his campaign slogan to remove a reference to President Donald Trump.
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Hatcher → change → Trump
Hatcher, who ousted incumbent Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) in Tennessee’s August primary, ran as a “Pro-Trump” candidate, even as Ogles held Trump’s endorsement in the primary.
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Ogles → oust → primary
Trump quickly got behind Hatcher following his primary victory, calling him a “Great ‘Trump’ Candidate.”
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Trump → get → him
The GOP candidate’s former campaign slogan previously said “Pro-Gun. Pro-Life. Pro-Trump,” and was featured at the bottom of Hatcher’s campaign website.
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slogan → say → website
But the logo featuring the slogan appears to have been removed from the fifth-generation dairy farmer’s website, and fundraising emails reviewed by the Washington Examiner show a new slogan that drops the reference to the president.
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that → feature → president
“Pro-Gun. Pro-Life. Pro-Tennessee,” a logo included on a fundraising email from Hatcher’s campaign sent on Sept. 21 says.
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logo → include → Sept.
Hatcher is running in a newly formed seat stretching from Memphis to Middle Tennessee.
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Hatcher → run → Tennessee
State Republicans redrew the lines after the Supreme Court ruling this spring curtailed minority voting protections in the Voting Rights Act.
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ruling → redrew → Act
Trump would have carried the seat by more than 20 points.
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Trump → carry → points
Another section, which featured a logo that referred to Hatcher as a “Trump conservative,” swiped at Ogles, and stated that Trump “would have been a fantastic farmer because he has that work ethic,” was also removed from the website’s landing page.
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he → feature → page
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Hatcher’s campaign for comment.
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Examiner → reach → comment
The shift in Hatcher’s campaign slogan comes as rural Republicans nationwide grapple with backlash over the increase in gas and diesel prices due to the Iran war.
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Republicans → come → war
Diesel prices hit a record high Tuesday, averaging $6.53 per gallon, while gasoline averaged $4.48, according to AAA.
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gasoline → hit → AAA
When asked what cattle farmers are concerned about, Hatcher admitted during an interview on the Todd Starnes Show that farmers in his district are most concerned about the sharp increase in diesel costs.
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farmers → ask → costs
“I mean, it’s record high,” Hatcher said.
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Hatcher → mean → ?
“They’ve got to put it in their tractor, their grain trucks, their combines, their pickup trucks, and so that’s — they feel that every day.
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they → get → tractor
But Hatcher also publicly disagreed with the Trump administration’s move to temporarily slash tariffs on foreign beef imports, saying he “didn’t like it.”
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he → disagree → it
“One of the bright spots in agriculture is the beef cattle business, and a lot of the dairy business is dependent on what we’re calling beef on dairy, and that’s helping us,” Hatcher said, acknowledging some of his disagreement stemmed from the handling of the announcement.
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some → call → announcement
“We import a lot of beef anyhow, but it’s just the way that it was rolled out,” Hatcher said.
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Hatcher → import → beef
“Probably wouldn’t have had that big an impact, but the market went down almost immediately and kind of knocked the legs out of some of the cattlemen.”
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market → have → cattlemen
Hatcher is not the first Republican to publicly break with the president on the beef imports.
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Hatcher → break → imports
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), who is running for Senate, has similarly argued the move would hurt domestic cattle ranchers.
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move → run → ranchers
The dairy farmer agreed with a comment from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins encouraging Americans to seek out other forms of protein, including turkey, amid a rise in the cost of beef.
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farmer → agree → beef
“I was at the grocery store yesterday,” Hatcher said.
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Hatcher → say → store
“I got two pounds of turkey, ground turkey, for $8.
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I → get → 8
So that’s $4 a pound.
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that → ’ → ?
So I think there’s things that they can do, but yeah, you know, the price of meat across the board is increased.”
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price → think → board
Other Republicans have also scrubbed mentions of the president from their websites as they are facing a difficult political environment and Trump’s approval rating sags.
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rating → scrub → environment
OIL AND GAS SHIPMENTS THROUGH STRAIT OF HORMUZ HIT SIX-MONTH HIGH:
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SHIPMENTS → hit → HORMUZ
That said, the GOP nominee does not appear to be fully turning away from the president and his administration, however.
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nominee → say → president
Hatcher’s campaign website does still mention Trump, with a section that credits Hatcher as saying “President Trump is the most impactful president of our lifetime,” but that the president “needs some help from a farmer’s work-hard mentality.”
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president → mention → mentality
“You want something hard done right?” the campaign website says.
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website → want → ?
The Aporia
