Donald Trump just got his ass kicked
You wouldn’t know it by listening to the mainstream media, but the overriding trend in 2022 has been that Donald Trump’s endorsements aren’t worth anything anymore – to the point that they don’t even impact Republican voters. On Tuesday night, that trend became so obvious that even the media may no longer be able to pretend Trump is somehow still calling the shots.
Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz at a time when Oz was leading the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania by two points. After the endorsement, Oz remained two points ahead in the polls, meaning the endorsement was worth zero points. Now, election night results show Oz in a dead heat with another Republican candidate, and likely headed to a runoff. Win or lose, Oz ended up two points worse off than he had been before Trump endorsed him.
Media pundits are already making excuses for Trump, suggesting that Kathy Barnette’s late surge hurt Oz. But this ignores the facts. Trump’s endorsement didn’t give Oz any spike in the polls whatsoever, meaning Trump’s endorsement was worth zero votes.
Besides, this wasn’t just one race. After insurrectionist stooge Madison Cawthorn got caught up in a series of personal scandals, Trump urged Republican primary voters to give him a second chance. But Cawthorn ended up losing his primary race to another Republican, meaning Cawthorn will be gone from the House at the end of the year.
On top of that, Trump’s candidate for Governor of Idaho, Janice McGeachin, lost the Republican primary race last night. Trump’s candidate for Governor of Nebraska lost the Republican primary race days ago. There’s just nothing good here for Trump.
We’ll see if the media tries to push the narrative that Trump’s endorsement pushed Republican candidate Doug Mastriano over the line in the Republican primary race for Governor of Pennsylvania. But the polls already showed Mastriano headed for a double digit victory, and Trump only belatedly endorsed him four days ago in an attempt at taking credit for a victory that was going to happen anyway.
The cold hard factual reality is that Donald Trump’s endorsements just don’t move the needle anymore – even among Republican voters. The mainstream media, on the left and right, is having a hard time admitting this truth. After all, if Trump has become this irrelevant to voters, it means he’s obviously not going to be a serious 2024 candidate.
The media would love to spend the next year milking the “Trump 2024” narrative for ratings, before it finally runs out of gas. One of the keys to keeping that storyline alive is the narrative that Trump is looming so large over American politics, he’s single handedly picking which Republican candidates sink or swim. But this is obvious fiction. It’s time for the media to simply admit that voters no longer give a damn what Trump thinks.
