Maine GOP Issues Official Thank You Note To President Trump For Taking The Blame
Party leaders say the card was the least they could do, which is also what they did during the campaign.
Illustration by The Black Fly
AUGUSTA, ME. Maine Republicans gathered at party headquarters Wednesday to sign an oversized thank you card addressed to President Donald Trump, expressing gratitude for his willingness to take the blame for a night that went badly for the party up and down the ballot.
"We wanted him to know how much it means to us," said party volunteer Darlene Ouellette, 67, of Lewiston, as she added a heart to the second L in her name. "Without him, people might have looked at our candidates. Nobody wants that."
The card, which cost $11.49 at a Rite Aid in Waterville before the store closed, reads THANK YOU on the front above a hand-drawn elephant. Inside, more than forty county committee members wrote personal notes. One read "You took one for the team. Actually you took all of them."
Party aide Brady Thurlow, 24, said the blame had been distributed with great care. "Every race we lost, we traced it back to Washington," Thurlow said. "Every race we won, we traced it back to the candidate. That's just good bookkeeping."
Asked whether anyone at the state party bore any responsibility, Thurlow said a committee had been formed to study the question. The committee met for eleven minutes Wednesday morning before concluding that the weather had also played a role.
Longtime county chairman Gary Pelletier of Presque Isle said he had personally lost a race for the Legislature by nine hundred votes and felt deep relief once the national results came in. "My wife asked me what happened," Pelletier said. "I pointed at the TV. She said fair enough and made me a sandwich."
At press time, staffers had begun drafting a second thank you note in advance of 2028, leaving the name blank in case someone else is available.
