Tuesday was a rough primary night for Donald Trump — and he wasn’t even on the ballot.

The former president endorsed a replacement for Sen. Mitt Romney, but Utah voters picked a Trump skeptic instead. He backed his spiritual adviser for an open South Carolina House seat only to watch him narrowly lose in a runoff. Trump threw his support to the Colorado GOP chair for a House district; he was blown out by more than 30 points.

On the heels of two other recent flops and one high-profile near-miss in Virginia that could have been embarrassing, the string of losses mars a nearly unblemished record this cycle.

The Trump endorsement is still clearly powerful — and highly coveted by Republicans — and Tuesday’s losses are notable because they are so rare. Trump’s backing is priceless political currency, so it’s jarring when its recipients fall short, indicating there is a limit to his sway and political operation: Trump’s endorsement is powerful, but it’s not all-powerful.

He can’t single-handedly defeat heavy outside spending against his chosen candidates, as the results indicate. And he can’t save them from personal controversies that turn voters off.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    What our intrepid reporter is failing to account for is that facts don’t matter; reality doesn’t matter. Chaos is All and All is Trump.

    Now trumpers put on your orange makeup and Depends™ and get out there and grift some more for trump. Murica! Yaahhrhh!

    GOP “Classic”, meet me over at camera three.

    . . . Hoo boy. Y’all done fucked up fierce. You got two options: use the shady SuperPACs to create a shadow RNC and go it alone or . . . (slides pistol to the center of the table) . . .

    It’s your choice.