Things are 'likely to get ugly' as Madison Cawthorn makes threats after election loss: analyst

Now that his career in politics has been derailed, if not permanently ended, after his stunning loss in North Carolina's Republican primary on Tuesday, outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) made an ominous threat after the defeat that could portend a coming campaign of revenge against the Republicans who helped pave the way to voters giving him the boot.

Despite the endorsement of Donald Trump, Cawthorn's re-election campaign collapsed in part because the GOP leaders in his home state, as well as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), did all they could to oust him after a flood of scandals and missteps that reached a crisis point when he claimed conservatives in Washington D.C. engaged in cocaine-fueled orgies.

With Cawthorn headed for the exit after the November midterm election where he will not be on the ballot, he posted on Instagram that he doesn't plan to go quietly, writing, "I am on a mission now to expose those who say and promise one thing yet legislate and work towards another, self-profiteering, globalist goal. The time for genteel politics as usual has come to an end. It’s time for the rise of the new right, it’s time for Dark MAGA to truly take command. We have an enemy to defeat, but we will never be able to defeat them until we defeat the cowardly and weak members of our own party. Their days are numbered. We are coming.”

According to Maddowblog analyst Steve Benen, that should set off alarms among Republicans hoping to put Cawthorn and his shenanigans behind them.

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As Benen wrote, things could get "ugly."

Writing that Cawthorn seems "focused on vengeance," the MSNBC analyst wrote, "At this point, it’s difficult to say which 'cowardly and weak' Republicans he intends to target as part of his new 'mission," adding, "it’s not at all clear how Cawthorn would go after his intra-party opponents, though his purported efforts might offer a possible wrinkle to the GOP’s election-year plans."

As for what the ousted lawmaker means by "Dark MAGA," Benen notes that Politico describes it as "an ‘edgier’ version of the Trump-supporting MAGA-verse," with Benen predicting "Those who think Donald Trump’s 'Make America Great Again' message has been little more than puppies and rainbows should apparently prepare for a new iteration that’s angry and dreary."