New Mexico GOP Candidate Blasted for Posts Calling Trump 'Unworthy A**Hole'

A New Mexico Republican congressional candidate has been forced to defend 2015 posts which blasted now-President Donald Trump as an "a**hole unworthy of the office" and railing against the man she now openly backs.

Claire Chase, who is running to defeat Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, was outed as a "Never Trump" Republican Party member during the 2016 presidential election. Right-wing website Breitbart News first reported on Chase's anti-Trump past despite her current candidacy portraying herself as an ardent supporter of the Trump administration. Facebook posts dating back to 2015 see her ridiculing Trump as a Vietnam War draft-dodger and threatening to vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson should Trump win the GOP primary.

A representative for Chase's U.S. House campaign now insists that she voted for Trump in November 2016 despite ridiculing him for at least two years. Her post-election comments continued to deride Donald Trump on a personal level -- but now she has "come around."

"For all my friends who like Donald Trump, I'm working on a fuller rant than he's an a**hole unworthy of the office and the power of the President of THE United States," Chase wrote on Facebook on August 30, 2015, as the New York businessman and reality TV host began surging against his GOP primary rivals.

"Marco Rubio is the guy. Carly Fiorina is the woman. This is the ticket to beating Hillary Clinton," she added alongside a link to an article from The Washington Post touting the Florida Republican senator.

A few weeks later in 2015, Chase shared a Politico article discussing whether former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would become the Trump administration Energy Secretary should he win the following year. "This is reason enough not to vote for Trump, among the other 836,297 reasons not to vote for him," Chase wrote on Facebook.

In perhaps her greatest condemnation of the now-president she openly touts, Chase shared a Politico article highlighting Trump claiming he "always felt" he'd served in the military.

"Ugh. I *REALLY* dislike Donald Trump. I also went to military boarding school. Can I march in a military formation. Sure. Do I know what rank someone is by what's on their uniform? Yes. Can I recite the military alphabet. Yep. Did I go overseas and fight terrorists and watch friends get injured or die? Nope. Did I make huge sacrifices to defend this country from her enemies? No. Have I put my life on the line for almost less than minimum wage? I haven't. Why? Because I'm not in the goshdamn military. That's why. This is beyond offensive," Chase wrote in September 2015.

A recent video posted to Chase's campaign Twitter account shows her posing next to Vice President Mike Pence last month onstage during a speech highlighting her ties to the oil and gas industry. As Breitbart first reported, Chase has "deep ties to the establishment wing of the Republican Party" and is a wealthy energy executive.

In a statement reacting to the old anti-Trump posts, Chase campaign consultant Chris Murphy said that despite her negative comments, she absolutely voted for Trump in November 2016.

"Claire did not support him in the primary, but she voted for President Trump in the general, celebrated his election, supports him now and thinks he has done a great job as President," Murphy wrote in an email to the conservative website.