GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn Lied About Training for Paralympics

One more piece of insurrection-inciting Hitler tourist Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-NC) election campaign narrative has been proven false.

Writes Sara Luterman at The Nation: “Cawthorn frequently said on social media that he was ‘training’ for the Paralympic Games. Technically, such a statement could be true—but only in the sense that I could be training for the Olympic Games. ‘It’s like a kid saying they want to play in the NBA when they’re on their fourth-grade basketball team,’ said Amanda McGrory, a three-time Paralympian who has earned seven medals in track and field. Cawthorn stated on the Christian inspirational podcast The Heal, “’I had an opportunity for the Paralympics for track and field.’ He did not have that opportunity, nor does it appear he took any meaningful steps that would have led him there.”

Luterman also provides the backstory on his other lies: “Cawthorn became disabled after a 2014 car crash left him paralyzed from the waist down. By Cawthorn’s own telling, he was a successful business owner headed to the Naval Academy before his injury tragically reordered his life. As it turns out, neither claim is true. The Asheville Watchdog reported that Cawthorn had already been rejected from the Naval Academy before his accident. And Cawthorn’s real-estate investment firm, SPQR Holdings LLC, which he only formed in August 2019, reported no income on its tax documents, and Cawthorn was the sole employee.”