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Tallahassee’s smartest political strategist, Rick Wilson, titled one of his books “Everything Trump Touches, Dies” and we’re about to see if that applies to his political party.
Donald Trump didn’t just touch the Republican Party, he won there in 2016. And his continued embrace, eagerly sought by most of this year’s Republican candidates, accepted from a distance by others, may become the kiss of death for Republican chances of regaining control of Congress next November.
Strategically, the party’s chances can be better. With polls falling in the ’40s, President Joe Biden is the biggest political drag since Jimmy Carter. Inflation, driven by gasoline prices, is at its highest point in 40 years.
Not only is crime emerging in almost every single category, but liberal prosecutors in some major cities are all Democrats. damage already inflicted by the pandemic.
At least 30 Democrats in Congress should not be re-elected: Some return to the House to run for governor or other positions, but most are retiring in the face of an approaching Republican election wave.
Home neighborhoods are redesigned through many lawmakers in GOP-controlled states. And, of course, history tells us that the party in the White House takes a hit in the first midterm elections.
So Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. , and his counterpart in the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, have to wait about six months and then sneak into congressional checkpoints, right?
It’s not enough.
Despite all the points in his favor, Republican leaders want to worry about Trump’s continuation of Republican politics, which resembles a cult.
His “Save America” committee launches one or two approvals each day, opting for the former president’s favorites in races for the House, Senate and gubernatorial positions.
And unwavering loyalty to Trump himself, in particular, blind acceptance of the big lie that the White House was stolen from him in 2020, is the first non-negotiable requirement to get Trump’s go-ahead. This can be disqualifying.
There are two reasons why applicants settle for Trump’s delusions.
Either they’re stupid enough that dozens of federal judges, governors, secretaries of state, and members of Congress (few of whom know each other) conspired with brands of voting devices in part of a dozen states to manipulate the results, or they’re so afraid Trump will fake it.
In any case, they are worthy of public trust.
Perhaps the most egregious example of this is Wisconsin, where state Rep. Timothy Ramthun “retrieved” the state’s 10 ballots if elected governor.
There is no legal way to do so, and 10 electoral votes would not be enough to impeach Biden and reinstate Trump, yet Ramthun believes that promising to do so will win him the votes of Trump supporters.
Trump has injected himself into the Georgia campaign, hoping to punish Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger for not obeying his order to “find” only about 12,000 votes after the election, to drive the state away from Biden.
The ongoing controversy contributed greatly to the loss of seats in the Georgia Senate, and in the Senate itself, in last January’s election.
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David Perdue, one of the Republican senators defeated in this runoff, is now Kemp with Trump’s approval.
McConnell worked to get Gov. Doug Ducey to challenge Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona. Ducey resisted, largely because of the abuse Trump inflicted on him for not cheating to put Arizona in the red column for him.
Trump also backs a major opponent of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is likely to participate in Alaska’s open primary. Murkowski honestly comes up with Trump’s “RINO” (Republicans only) contempt, after voting to impeach him at his time of impeachment.
It would be sensible for Republicans to follow Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s lead in Virginia. It has kept Trump at bay, focusing on school politics and other issues they fear directing families, rather than repeating the 2020 presidential results.
If Trump-backed candidates do well next November, it will apparently be a spice-up to their plans to run for the White House in 2024. If many of his loyalists lose, or are eliminated in the primaries, he will be encouraged further forward. looking for Republicans to harden their spine.
Bill Cotterell is a retired journalist from the Democratic Capitol in Tallahassee. You can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee. com.
This article gave the impression on Tallahassee Democrat Bill Cotterell: The Republican Party simply can’t leave the toxic Donald Trump