Team Trump hits the panic button

| 9:09 am EDT July 30, 2021
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Donald Trump’s endorsements rarely seemed to help Republican candidates much, even when he was still in office. Now that he’s gone from office, mired under a toxically low favorability rating, banned from social media, mostly cut off from the public, and facing multiple criminal investigations, it’s not at all surprising that his chosen candidate lost this week in a U.S. House special election in Texas.

But apparently the predictable loss has somehow caught Donald Trump’s inner circle off guard. According to Politico, which has become a platform for Trump’s handlers to spew their messaging of late, Team Trump is now panicked over the loss in Texas, and is fearful of what it might mean for the other candidates that Trump plans to endorse.

Apparently Team Trump has been drinking its own kool aid all along, and came to honestly believe that Donald Trump’s endorsement was some kind of magic wand when in fact it was never worth much. Perhaps the real shift is that the media is finally starting to acknowledge Trump’s endorsement failures, thus painting him as newly weak, when in fact he’s been weak all along.

In any case, the bigger question may be what happens once more Republican politicians finally start to figure out that Donald Trump’s endorsement isn’t worth much. Most of them still seem stuck in a fever dream in which they’re one mean Trump tweet away from career ruin, even though Trump isn’t even on Twitter anymore.

Most Republican politicians don’t want to have to carry water for Trump’s sinking ship, but they’re afraid of what might happen to them if they don’t. Now, however, it’s becoming more clear that there’s little reason to cower to Trump as he fades away and becomes more radioactive than ever.