GOP Senate candidate jokes about locking his wife in the 'trunk of a car'

Don Bolduc, a Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire, recently joked about locking his wife in the trunk of his car as a test to see if she was really his best friend.

At a GOP meeting in Moltonborough last week Monday, Bolduc, a retired Army general, described his dog Victor as his “nonjudgmental best friend” and his wife as his “judgmental best friend.” He then proposed a test to prove this was the case.

“You take your wife, you take your dog, put them in the trunk of a car,” Bolduc said. “You close the trunk. Walk away, have a cup of coffee, come back in an hour, open up the trunk. And who’s going to be happy to see you? Not the wife!”

“Victor’s like, ‘where have you been?'” he added.

The audience responded with loud laughter.

A video of the moment, below, was first unearthed by American Bridge, a liberal opposition research group.

Prior to telling the joke, Bolduc admitted that he had never actually locked his wife in the trunk of a car for an hour with his dog, and recommended against anyone else doing it.

The Bolduc campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bolduc is seeking the Republican nomination to take on two-term Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2020.

Polling in September showed Bolduc trailing former Trump campaign manager and fellow GOP candidate Cory Lewandowski among Republican voters in the state. In addition to Boldoc and Lewandowski, former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien is running for the Republican nomination, according to Roll Call.

The same poll showed Shaheen beating Lewandowski by 10 points, but did not test Shaheen against the other two Republicans.

Bolduc’s joke last week was far from the only controversial statement he’s made in recent days.

In mid-November, according to an audio clip also unearthed by American Bridge, Bolduc announced his desire to get rid of the Department of Education.

Bolduc specifically compared the U.S. education system to that of post-war Afghanistan, saying, “we’re dumbing down our children.”

“That’s why I believe the Department of Education needs to go away,” he added.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.