Bill Kristol Says Denver Riggleman ‘Privately Disdained’ Trump After He Lost House Seat in GOP Convention

Last night in Virginia’s 5th congressional district, incumbent US House Representative Denver Riggleman lost his bid for re-election in a nominating convention to the more conservative Bob Good. This was despite multiple endorsements including President Trump himself and Donald Trump Jr.

This morning Bill Kristol claims Riggleman played along to get the endorsement of President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr., but now that Riggleman lost his bid in the GOP nominating convention, ‘neocon’ Kristol is saying Riggleman ‘privately disdained’ Trump and Kristol has extended an invitation to Denver to join the Republican Voters Against Trump. Kristol tweeted:

“Now that Rep. Denver Riggleman has lost the GOP nomination to an extremist in a rigged convention in VA-5, we invite him to join Republican Voters Against Trump. Riggleman privately disdained Trump, but he decided he “had” to go along. He doesn’t now.” See tweet:

Now that Rep. Denver Riggleman has lost the GOP nomination to an extremist in a rigged convention in VA-5, we invite him to join Republican Voters Against Trump. Riggleman privately disdained Trump, but he decided he "had" to go along. He doesn't now. https://t.co/wNpIhuAk9S

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 14, 2020

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for your endorsement. I've got your six. #MAGA

— Denver Riggleman (@Denver4VA) December 17, 2019

Bearing Drift, sometimes referred to as ‘Bearing Left’ by some social media activist conservatives, touted Donald Trump Jr.’s endorsement of Riggleman. Trump Jr. recorded a robocall for Riggleman’s campaign, which can be heard in the Bearing Drift article.

Bob Good posted the results of his win last night after there were reports of some irregularities with the nominating convention when said irregularities were supposedly ironed out. Good’s team reported to his Facebook page that he won 58% of the delegates in the nominating convention when all was said and done late last night:

Bob Good wins the 5th District Congressional race today with over 58% of the delegate vote! Hundreds of delegates from all over the district poured into Tree of Life Church in Lynchburg today to cast their vote for a bright red conservative to represent our district in the upcoming November election. I am thankful for the trust that the voters of the 5th district have placed in me and I am ready to head into the general election and take our message to conservative Republicans all over the district!

Despite this, Riggleman has refused to lose graciously, posting to social media that he doesn’t believe Good won fair and square and ‘will be evaluating all our options at this time’. Riggleman also recently went on record that he can’t necessarily support Bob Good as the nominee against the Democrat should he lose to Good, as he did last night. See tweet below:

Voting irregularities and ballot stuffing has been reported in multiple counties in the #VA05. Voter fraud has been a hallmark of this nomination process and I will not stand for it. @VA_GOP needs to reevaluate their priorities. We are evaluating all our options at this time.

— Denver Riggleman (@Denver4VA) June 14, 2020

The Denver Riggleman team has yet to confirm or deny the claims by Kristol that he secretly disdains the president. He may want to make a statement on that either way since he is still the sitting US House Rep. for Virginia’s 5th for a few more months and claims to be a Trump supporter.