Ryan Ray
Former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel had one hell of a 2013: He was sworn in as a member of the 133rd Congress in January, only to be arrested by federal authorities for attempting to buy cocaine from an undercover officer in October.
But life goes on, right? Since then, writes Benny Johnson in the IJR Review, the self-described “Hip Hop Conservative” has been back in the lab as it were: coming clean, training in the gym and quietly starting his own PR firm specializing in, naturally, crisis management.
Last week, IJReview found Trey Radel exiting a bass-thumping black Cadillac in a sun-baked parking lot in Fort Myers, Florida, pulling a black Yankees cap low over his eyes, slinging a gym bag over his shoulder, and sauntering into a warehouse boxing club.
“Boy did that term come back to bite me in the ass,” Radel says of the now infamous “Hip Hop Conservative” trope while lacing up his boxing gloves. “But it was not some bullshit branding thing. It was about Republicans reaching out to people other than white men.”
He has a point, as he always did: something about the actor turned reporter turned politician always struck a nerve. That’s how he beat out a deep bench of seasoned pros to replace former Congressman Connie Mack IV in 2013, when he left the seat to run for U.S. Senate.
It’s part of why after the meteoric ascension, the decline and fall was so painful.
Radel’s return to public life has been a slow, cautious embark – and for good reason; following his public arrest, he was subject to endless social harassment and invasive news coverage. “If there is one thing that I fucking hate, it’s bullies,” he says, recalling the visceral online reaction to his scandal. “There are trolls that make threats on my life, but when people start picking on my family, that really burns me.” Radel calls the press coverage a “ring of hell,” describing reporters banging on his door until his child cried.
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Matt Pusateri, Radel’s district office manager, describes the moment his boss told him, face-to-face, that he had been convicted of cocaine possession. “There was a long moment of silence. You’re working for a congressman who is making great strides to change the GOP, things could not be going better. Then – surprise.” Pusateri was angry.
And so was Radel. “People who have the time to sit and write 140 characters about you or do a rant on Facebook on you, they have no lives,” Radel told Johnson. “They are the ones who need help.” But then, slowly and surely, he began to get even rather than mad.
Part of that is founding a new firm, Trey Radel Media. “Do not be paralyzed by the future. Be yourself,” Radel says of the brand of advice he now dispenses. He also hinted to Johnson at a return to public life as … something, probably.
Another bid for Congress perhaps?
To others wondering what he’s doing, and if he’ll ever consider another run, he says, “Thanks! But I am not going to run for public office again.”
But a reportedly new and improved Radel does not mean ceding a certain rebellious spirit.
“If I am at fault for being crazy in any way, it’s for a lust for life.”
