Trump-backed GOP House nominee Kent says DC 'institutionalists' have contempt for average Americans

A GOP House nominee in Washington state, whose Navy wife was killed by ISIS, says "institutionalists" in federal agencies such as the CIA are contemptible toward average Americans. 

"DC Institutionalists really have a lot of contempt for your average Americans," nominee Joe Kent said Thursday on the John Solomon Reports podcast. 

Kent, who on Aug. 9 won the GOP primary in Washington's 3rd congressional district, also said former President Donald Trump embodies the outsider on whom such agency officials look down.

"Trump was the embodiment of that for them" also said Kent, a former Green Beret. "And for Trump to come in and say, 'Hey, you guys have gotten a lot of stuff wrong. I'm going to start looking over your shoulder. I'm actually going to have the people provide some oversight of our intelligence agencies.' They were offended by that to put it mildly." 

Kent spoke after a journalist recently tweeted: "Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous & contemptible than today’s Republicans," and former CIA Director Michael Hayden tweeted in response: "I agree. And I was the CIA director"

Kent said about Hayden's tweet: "It's preposterous. It's insulting, but it's also very telling. I mean, Michael Hayden – he's worth following [on Twitter] because he basically says the quiet part out loud."

In 2019, Kent's wife, Shannon Kent was killed by ISIS in Syria during a special operations mission. She served in the Navy as a senior chief petty officer.

Last week, Kent defeated incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.  

His district leans Republican, despite part of it being in the media market of the liberal-leaning city of Portland.

"When you get a little bit outside of Portland in any cardinal direction, especially to the north where I am, where our district is, and it is deep red," Kent said. "It's America. It's traditional values."

He also argued that considering the state of the country, lot of people will flock to the Republican side in November's midterm balloting.

"The very basic question is: 'Are you better off now? Or are you better off two years ago?,' " he said. "It's that's really hard for the Democrats to argue against, and that's bringing a lot of people who are just being destroyed by inflation over to our side. So I think we're gonna see a really big groundswell throughout the country."