The endorsement of Mehmet Oz by Donald Trump over the weekend was a seismic event in Trump world. The after shocks are still being felt. If you haven’t read the reactions of MAGAs great and small, here are a few. Daily Beast:
“I have enormous respect for President Trump. I was honored to have his endorsement in PA. Twice,” Sean Parnell, the former Trump-backed candidate, who dropped out of the race after an abuse allegation surfaced from his estranged ex-wife, wrote on Twitter. “But I’m disappointed by this. Oz is the antithesis of everything that made Trump the best president of my lifetime.”
“It’s like Donald Trump’s staff is sabotaging Trump by convincing him to make the worst possible endorsements,” conservative radio host Erick Erickson tweeted.
“This endorsement could divide MAGA in the only way that matters: he could lose America First conservatives over it,” Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak wrote.
“This is happening because Trump’s surrounded himself by staff who are on McConnell’s payroll & hostile to the MAGA agenda. Everybody telling Trump who to endorse in primaries works for The Swamp,” said Brooks, whose Trump endorsement was recently rescinded. “They played him. Again.”
It’s not Trump’s staff. The people who are saying it’s Trump’s staff don’t even believe it. They just have to say that because we’re in the If Only Comrade Stalin knew phase of the Trump phenomenon on its way out. Conservative writer Matt Lewis doesn’t buy it either.
The notion that Trump is being pushed into these endorsements by staff would also seem to be undercut by the fact that David McCormick—the hedge fund executive who is also running for Senate in Pennsylvania—hired Hope Hicks, Stephen Miller, and other Trump loyalists, precisely for this reason.
Details don’t matter. Like communism, Trump can never fail. He can only be failed.
The lengths Republicans go to make excuses for Trump echoes the old “If only Comrade Stalin knew” trope—which describes why peasants continue to love their leader, despite enduring atrocities and starvation.
It’s frustrating to watch, but considering the extent of Trump’s hold on the GOP, any step forward is positive.
Trump’s political power is derived from highly-loyal Republican primary voters. Hitting Trump from the left doesn’t move them. Nor does attempting to shame them for supporting his outrageous behavior. But as people on the right begin to normalize criticizing Trump (albeit, couched in rhetoric blaming others), another possibility opens up: Moving on from Trump.
Ahhh. There. Somebody actually said it. Moving on from Trump. It is an absolute certainty that it won’t be a sudden divorce. It is also a certainty that it will have to be gradual and whoever takes over the mantle, yes, Ron DeSantis, we’re talking about you, will have to be cunning and make believe that that is not really what is taking place.
Trump has literally been called evil, authoritarian, and likened to Hitler. And yet, those criticisms only made his stranglehold on the GOP base even stronger. But the idea that he’s past his sell-by date—that “it’s time to move on”—THAT’s got to be terrifying for Trump, as he imagines a triumphant return to the White House.
If “moving on” becomes an acceptable theme among Republican voters (the same folks who seem willing to vote against Trump’s endorsed candidates, even as they praise him), then Trump remains a hero and future Republicans will stand on his shoulders. But his own political fortunes would be toast.
What I’m saying is, there’s a way for Republican voters to retire Trump in a way that preserves his ego and allows Republicans to save face. And if giving him a gold watch is what it takes, then everyone should chip in.
At least we’re having the conversation. Prior to this weekend and that disastrous Oz endorsement, nobody was talking this way. This could be the beginning of the end for Trumpty Dumpty. He fell off the wall in 2020 and he might just fry on the sidewalk this summer.
Seems like the thrill is gone…….and the clown show has lost its shine…..I guess, other than the most moronic of the MAGAts, they are getting tired of hearing him continually piss and cry and moan about how unfair everyone is to him.
This from his Selma NC Klan-A-Palooza the other night…….
“Local newspaper The News & Observer reported that Trump spoke to about 1,000 to 2,000 people ― a far cry from the 15,000 who turned out for him at the same venue in 2016.”
That is from the following article and really relates to your point…..the article also touches on the same thing happening in Georgia a couple of weeks ago……
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-small-crowd-sizes_n_62539e18e4b066ecde084026
I was chit chatting with Denis, our moderator, earlier tonight about this same figure, 1,000 to 2,000. What I said was that the high school I attended had 1,600 students, so literally, in all-school assemblies, as a high school student I spoke in front of as many people as Donald Trump did Saturday night. It doesn’t seem like much of an achievement, when put in those terms.
As the worms turn in Trump’s mental cavern, the decent down that escalator is still a dominant factor … All the glitz and glory for an idiot in the Trump tower of lies and criminal actions …
I’m wondering at what point those in the Maga hogwash heaven were securely embedded as truly brain dead followers …
Scientists always remind us that there actually is no example of perpetual motion and a belt loop between a generator and electric motor cannot function as a self powered motor … so as the glitz and power of Maga rants is fading fast, Trump cannot continue to exist as he wants to or his narcissisms demand … The bill collectors are in his neighborhood already, in a race with the various DA’s plans to contain Trump in his special cage for a number of years …
What will we do with all our peaceful days without that tired old BS on FOX NEWS to keep us warm in the winter months?
If former guy is “surrounding himself” with staff that are sub-par (haven’t they all been?) then he does not know what he is doing and this is that thing called “proof”. WTF more do those magat idiots need?