Trump campaign blames Democrats for ex-campaign manager Parscale’s hospitalisation
Florida police say former manager was taken to hospital on Sunday
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Your support makes all the difference.President Donald Trump’s campaign has blamed Democrats for the hospitalisation of its former manager Brad Parscale over the weekend.
The accusation comes after Mr Parscale, who was demoted from his campaign position in July, threatened to hurt himself at his property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was taken to hospital under the state’s Baker Act on Sunday after his wife called police.
The act allows authorities to detain people who are thought to be a threat to themselves or others for up to three days while they are evaluated.
In a statement responding to the news, Tim Murtaugh, the communications director of the Trump campaign, said: “Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we love him. We are ready to support him and his family in any way.”
Mr Murtaugh went on to blame Democrats and disgruntled RINOs - an acronym meaning Republicans in Name Only - for the incident.
“The disgusting, personal attacks from Democrats and disgruntled RINOs have gone too far, and they should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to this man and his family,” he said.
The tone used by Mr Murtaugh contrasts with the language used by the Biden War Room, an independent grassroots organisation set up to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The organisation tweeted that the politics “takes its toll on people in unfathomable ways”.
"Regardless of the differences we have in our beliefs, we at the Biden War Room hope that Brad Parscale is safe, is with his family, and gets everything that he needs to get better,” it added.
Mr Parscale, striking for his distinctive beard and for his height, was reassigned several months ago to a role helping the Trump campaign’s digital operations.
His demotion was announced in a Facebook post in July, which said that Bill Stepien, a political director at the White House, would be his replacement.
This occurred just weeks after the president held a poorly-attended rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Despite Mr Parscale’s boasts that a million tickets had been requested, the venue was rougly one-third full and an overflow event was cancelled.
Mr Parscale was hired by Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to run his 2016 presidential campaign.
Additional reporting from AP
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