The co-chair of Donald Trump's campaign in New Hampshire wrote in a Facebook comment on Saturday that Trump haters are "just afraid of losing the Obama phones and their EBT cards."
"All I can say is the party is over…" Doucette wrote on Sept. 24. "The truth is going to sting a few people… Great turnout today great support for Mr. Trump... Rick keep up the good work the first amendment of the Constitution allows you to do exactly what you're doing.... As for the haters they're just afraid of losing the Obama phones and their EBT cards they are all in for a rude awakening..."
In a phone interview with BuzzFeed News on Monday, Doucette said the comment was part of an "inside joke," but expressed regret for having written it, adding that he grew up on public assistance.
"I have a single mother that brought me up until she got her third job, I was brought as a ward of the state, on welfare, on food stamps, et cetera, et cetera," he said. "So shame on me. Shame on me, absolutely, for doing something like that. But it was in jest. It was in jest.”
Asked about people taking offense at the suggestion that people vote Democratic to save their own welfare benefits, Doucette replied, “No, dude, dude, dude, no, no, no, no, no. I was a Democrat my whole life, okay? And I have family members that are still relying on public assistance. And I get it. I absolutely get it. And again, shame on me. Shame on me for doing that.”
"It was just, it was one of those things," he added. "Never in a million years, good god, no. Because people in need, in need of a hand up, oh my goodness. I’m not of that belief system, believe me.”
Doucette, whose Facebook profile picture is a photograph of his Trump campaign business card, also clarified a post in which he accused Hillary Clinton of having a "problem in the head."
"Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HER?" he wrote on Sept. 21. "She's got a problem in the head. There's some kind of psychological issue with her. She's pathological. It's a pattern."
Doucette told BuzzFeed News that he was calling her a pathological liar.
“What I believe is, that is diagnosable," he said. "People who have the issue of pathologically lying believe their lies. And I believe that there is a diagnosis for that. So yeah, I believe that that can be diagnosed as an illness, absolutely.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Here are Doucette's posts:
