DISCLAIMER: This article was first published in April 2022.
I’m not sure if Donald Trump is capable of embarrassment, but if he is, the 2022 midterm elections should be right up there at the top of the list. Perhaps the most notable loss occurred when Trump-backed celebrity candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (TV’s Dr. Oz), lost the Pennsylvania Senate race to Democrat John Fetterman. Trump had a lot of gin in the midterm game, and for many candidates he endorsed during the midterm elections, it was a complete rout.
Probably no one understands this better than Alyssa Farah Griffin, his former White House spokesperson. In an interview with The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer, Griffin said the best way to beat Trump is to focus on the “dumb endorsements” he’s made in the past.
His running mate, J.D. Vance, who was originally opposed to Trump, is one of the former president’s few successes, per Mediaite. “J.D. Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades.”
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Dawsey and Scherer interviewed numerous Republicans and others within Trump’s orbit for their story, including Griffin, now an ardent critic of her former boss. She noted that if Trump continues his tradition of endorsing off-the-wall candidates, this could lead to his downfall.
We can only hope she’s right. But she’s worked with him so she has insights that could help to undermine him.
“The biggest way to defeat him is to electorally chip away at the notion he is the most powerful endorsement in the country. He still is, but smart operatives need to play against him in races where he’s made dumb endorsements,” Griffin said.
Trump has slowed his pace a little bit, withdrawing his endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks as he dropped in the polls, perhaps becoming more cautious after his first Pennsylvania endorsement, Sean Parnell dropped out of the race.
Nevertheless, as the midterms grew closer, he still kept endorsing questionable candidates, and as The Guardian notes it did him no favors. Other Trump-backed candidates like Herschel Walker (Georgia) ran a tight race that led to a runoff, where he lost to sitting Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Another Trump favorite, Kari Lake, went down in flames in Arizona, and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert barely held on to her seat.
And as we head fatefully toward the 2024 presidential race, ABCNews tells us Trump has backed more candidates than ever before.
So let’s hope he has the same luck this time around. He has a real preference for cockamamie candidates (Lake, Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene just for starters), and since Griffin knows Trump well, her advice rings true.
Between that and his continual physical and mental struggles on the campaign trail while running against the much younger Vice President Kamala Harris (she’s 59), Trump may find himself running against the wind instead of with it.
It’s something to hope for.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery.
