An awful lot of Republicans, especially those running for office this year weren’t thrilled when Trump decided to hold a shindig in Dallas for two days. Just before the 25th Anniversary of 9/11. It was they felt a bad look and a lot of money would be spent by the both by the Party and them – the personal cost to attend was ridiculous. Worse was the political cost. With the midterms just two months away and early voting starting in some states soon the last thing GOP candidates wanted (or needed) was Trump making two days of headlines. But he got his way and the whole affair flopped. The worst part though was Trump used the event to emphasize the GOTV message they specifically did NOT want made. Trump clearly said ‘Pretend I’m on the ballot.’ Republicans have had time to react and they are ticked off.
Trump’s hugely negative approval ratings have been an anchor around the neck of lots of GOP candidates this year. Races (including the Texas Senate race) that shouldn’t be competitive are and so much so that the GOP might lose control of the Senate (early on this year a long-shot) as well as losing the House which even Republicans have felt all year was likely. Even though they came out ahead in the mid-cycle gerrymandering war they started it was far from a decisive victory. And Trump’s approval on just about any issue you can name dropped like a rock this year. You know the reasons why so I won’t get into most of it here. However even MAGAs are upset, mostly over the Epstein files and the war with Iran. GOP operatives that look with objective eyes worry enough of them will either vote third Party or not vote at all to affect numerous races.
It should also be noted that more than once Trump has told voters to pretend he was on the ballot. Sometimes others have convinced him to walk that back some but during the summer he’d again float the idea. Sometimes in the same speech he’d tell the audience to pretend he’d be on the ballot, but at another point tell them not to and to focus on local candidates issues. Well, it was summer and most people aren’t political junkies so it didn’t get that much notice.
However while so many laws of politics and campaigns don’t seem to apply when it comes to Trump one that likely still does is that after Labor Day in an election year voters start to pay attention to who is running for what office. More importantly Party politics get looked at, and a lot of voters think the GOP has let Trump get away with too much. Worse, they see Trump as focusing on the wrong things (i.e. his vanity projects) and GOP Congress Critters letting him run wild.
Trump-A-Palooza was destined to flop and become what I hope will be called Trump-Is-A-Loser because so many Republican candidates made all kinds of excuses for why they ‘couldn’t’ attend. Ticket sales were anemic and so bad the organizers made them available for free! Even at that Trump spoke to a venue that was far from filled. And as became common at his rallies after he droned on for a while attendees got up and left. Trump couldn’t have been happy to see all those empty seats but he stood there rambling on night one seemingly forever. And then came back and spoke again on night 2! It was the usual nonsense – a mix of lies both small and batsh!t insane huge but as reported by Raw Story his ‘pretend I’m on the ballot’ made Republicans cringe both in the moment and since. In fact, with a little time to process it they are pretty pointed in their criticism of their Orange Emperor. To the point of profanity even:
In a Saturday report, Politico collected feedback from Republicans, who didn’t mind using profanity to describe their worry over what they saw as the “biggest mistake” Trump made at the two-night event.
“He said ‘I am on the ballot,’ which is going to f— us,” said a GOP county chair in a region where House races are competitive because of Trump’s unpopularity. “People will vote against congressmen and women to get back at Trump.”
The midterms are less than a couple of months away, and according to Politico, “a swath of GOP lawmakers” are “near despondent at Trump’s comments” at the convention.
Republicans are downright scared that Trump will continue to shoot off his mouth when they truly need him to just shut the hell up and if he’s not going to tend to the business of running the government and focus on things voters care about then just spend most of his time on the golf course. However that’s about as likely as my Cubs getting back to the World Series again this year and me being invited to throw out the first pitch AND lead the crowd in singing Take Me Out To the Ballgame during the 7th Inning Stretch. They have long worried about the number of seats in both chambers of Congress Trump will cost them. The worry extends down to the state and local level and there’s ample evidence from election results in off-year and special elections to justify their concern.
What they need from Trump is those hundreds of millions he collected with his PAC. He made promises of funding what he felt were worthy GOP candidates but we all have known he’d not actually do it. Yes, he made a show of giving Paxton $10million but in a statewide race in Texas that won’t go very far. He’ll probably make another couple of token donations but word is out he’s said he wants to keep that money for lawyers with all the investigations he’s sure to be facing. Trump’s delusions of grandeur have him thinking the most valuable thing he can give GOP candidates is his endorsement.
However we are past primaries and Democrats and Independent voters get to have their say at the polls. The more Trump is out there campaigning or forcing himself into the news the more he hurts GOP candidates. Even with Republicans who as I said earlier are discouraged or downright fed up. The linked article made the point that fellow GOPers are referring to Trump and his antics with profanity. I suspect the language is a LOT more colorful than they’ve let on to journalists. They are I suspect as angry at themselves as they are at Trump. They’ve ‘partied’ like college kids for years and now they are sobering up and facing a bar tab they can’t pay.
This is the time. Our chance. Trump is clearly his own and the GOP’s worst electoral enemy because he can’t stand not being the center of attention. It’s not just moderate and conservative leaning Independents that are fed up with Trump and a GOP that won’t rein him in. Even traditional Republicans who just looked the other way for too long seem to have had enough. So, it’s on us, and our candidates to seize control of these final couple of months of the campaign. In almost every race Democratic candidates can lay out what their priorities are and legislation they intend to pass vs. Trump’s policies and a GOP candidate/Congress that hasn’t done jack for them. I know if you’re reading this you feel this campaign has been going on forever. But the finish line is in sight. Now is the time to be like long distance runners and though tired after all the prior laps start that finishing ‘kick.’
