Congressman Sparks Outrage with Shocking Joke About Opponents Wife

Rep. Mike Collins’ Senate campaign is suddenly in damage-control mode after one of its own campaign accounts posted a disgusting remark aimed at a rival adviser whose wife previously accused former NBC host Matt Lauer of rape.

The post was deleted fast.

But not fast enough.

Screenshots spread across political circles on Friday, turning what was supposed to be another nasty Georgia GOP primary fight into a full-blown scandal for Collins, a MAGA-aligned Republican now trying to survive a runoff and keep his hopes alive of challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

The ugly exchange began when Luke Thompson, an adviser working with Republican Derek Dooley’s campaign, posted polling that suggested Collins’ lead in the GOP primary was shrinking.

“48 hours later, and the Collins lead has cut in half,” Thompson wrote on X. “Dooley beats Ossoff. Collins can’t. Not hard to understand.”

That jab apparently set off someone inside the Collins operation.

A “Mike Collins War Room” account connected to Collins’ campaign fired back with a vulgar post, writing: “Matt Laurer’s [sic] sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L.”

The reference was immediately condemned as cruel and grotesque.

Georgia political reporter Greg Bluestein quickly pointed out the disturbing context behind the insult: Thompson’s wife had previously accused Matt Lauer of rape and later attempted suicide.

That made the post look far worse than a routine campaign cheap shot. It turned into a public attack tied to a woman’s alleged trauma.

The backlash was swift.

Collins soon announced that Brandon Phillips, a top aide to his Senate campaign, had been fired over the post.

“Earlier today, a campaign advisor sent out a despicable and unauthorized Twitter comment using a Team Collins campaign account,” Collins said in a statement. “The statement was made without my knowledge or approval and in no way represents or reflects my values or the values of this campaign.”

Collins added that staffing changes had been made “to ensure this type of behavior never happens again.”

But for critics, the apology did little to erase the damage.

The since-deleted post handed Democrats and rival Republicans a brutal example of the kind of political ugliness that has come to define some of the Trump-era campaign machine: say something outrageous, delete it when caught, then blame a staffer.

Phillips was already facing scrutiny before his sudden firing.

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail reported allegations that Collins’ chief of staff hired his girlfriend as an intern and paid her more than $10,000 despite claims that she rarely showed up to the office. Collins’ team denied those allegations at the time and brushed them off as complaints from “disgruntled” former staffers.

Now Phillips is gone from the campaign after a scandal that could not have come at a worse time.

Collins recently advanced to a runoff against Dooley in Georgia’s Republican Senate primary. The winner is expected to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, one of the GOP’s top targets.

But instead of talking about the race, the economy, or Ossoff, Collins’ campaign is now answering questions about a crude rape-related attack posted from an official campaign account.

For a candidate trying to convince Georgia voters he is ready for the U.S. Senate, the episode raises a simple but damaging question:

If Collins cannot control his own campaign account, why should voters trust him with a Senate seat?