Brat, Trump, and fractures among Virginia Republicans

Dave Brat’s loyalty to Donald Trump should come as no surprise: Brat has long-standing ties to Trump and to the alt-right media that has supported the political careers of both men.  Trump and his alt-right circles have helped Brat out from his earliest days and they are largely responsible for his victory over Eric Cantor.  Steve Bannon of Breitbart, now Trump’s CEO, Laura Ingraham, and Mark Levin all played their roles in Brat’s success, with the latter two giving him hours of free radio time, and the former dozens of articles.  Dave Bossie, a friend of Bannon’s and until very recently the president of Citizens United (leaving to become Trump’s deputy campaign manager), is another powerful right-wing connection to Brat, credited by Bannon in this article with having been one of the first to take notice of Brat; Citizens United helped fund Brat’s 2014 campaign.  Jeremy Peters of the NYT has documented some of this and more details can be found here.