It’s slipping away from Donald Trump already
The Republican Governor of North Dakota issued a mask mandate last night. This comes a few days after the Republican Governor of Utah did the same. These Republicans get zero points for waiting this many months to do the right thing; people died because of those delays. But it’s pretty clear that these Governors are suddenly more willing to ignore Trump’s wishes now that he’s lost. His GOP influence continues to erode.
The TV pundits can shout around about Trump being a “kingmaker” all they want, but the actions of Republican Governors this week say something very different. Of course Trump isn’t going to be a Republican kingmaker now that he’s lost. He wasn’t even a kingmaker before he lost. Trump never could get his base to turn out and vote for other Republican candidates when he wasn’t on the ballot in the midterms and special elections, even when he held rallies and asked them to. Kingmakers are able to put other people in office. Trump never could pull that off.
In fact several Republican candidates, depending on the demographics of their race, have quietly dodged Trump’s endorsement over the past few years. Now that he’s lost, they won’t have to be so quiet about dodging his endorsement. Don’t get me wrong, the loony Republican candidates in the loony districts may still embrace Trump for awhile. But the notion of him as some kind of national kingmaker is hilarious. And by the 2024 presidential election, the Republican candidates will be pretending Trump never existed.
