Trump’s Revenge Tour

If there was any doubt that the MAGA base is a cult, Trump’s recent “revenge tour” should eliminate it. As numerous observers have noted, Trump’s ability to defeat Republicans who have defied him in any way, no matter how small, in primary elections demonstrates his control over a base that is experiencing steep decline.

An objective analysis of these primaries provides more evidence–as if we needed it–that Trump is incapable of strategic thinking, and wholly unconcerned with the effects of these “victories” on the GOP. Not only did the party spend millions of dollars on these intra-party battles–dollars they will have to replace for November–the congressional-level people he defeated still have seven months to serve, and have absolutely no reason to accommodate the madman who engineered their defeat. For the next seven months, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Thomas Massie will have no reason to genuflect and every reason to feel liberated. (The signs are already there– Cassidy recently provided the 50th yes vote on a war powers resolution, and has come out against Trump’s billion dollar ballroom funding.)

Worse still, Trump has made it abundantly clear that a vote for any Republican in November is a vote for the Party of Trump, who is currently polling at 37% approval. (And yes, it’s inconceivable that 37% of Americans remain in the cult. But that’s a subject for a different day…)

Trump’s ego and idiocy have actually produced a number or outcomes for Democrats to celebrate, and that celebration is especially appropriate in Texas, where Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton in the upcoming run-off between Paxton and Cornyn. As Charlie Sykes, a “Never Trump” former Republican has written, Cornyn isn’t even an enemy, having shown few flashes of independence. Nevertheless, Trump endorsed the more-MAGA Paxton, ignoring warnings that the scandal-infested Paxton will be a much weaker candidate and that a Paxton victory in the run-off will put the GOP at risk of losing the Texas Senate seat. Sykes quoted Chris Cillizza, who wrote that

“The choice before Trump was very clear: Pick the less loyal but more electable candidate who gives Republicans a better chance at keeping the Senate majority or go with the hardcore MAGA loyalist who might lose the Senate seat (and maybe the majority!) but will never abandon Trump.

If you know Trump, that choice wasn’t much of a choice.

Sykes reminds his readers that it would be hard to name a political figure “more publicly and egregiously corrupt than Paxton.”

In Paxton, Trump has found an accomplice nearly as corrupt as he is himself; and who comes close to matching Trump’s own dishonesty, immorality, and anti-democratic impulses. Indeed, Paxton is a layer-cake of scandal, including felony indictments for securities fraud, allegations of bribery and abuse of office, whistleblower retaliation, and extramarital affairs.

Don’t take my word for it. Paxton’s fellow Republicans found his conduct so repugnant they impeached him and temporarily removed him from office. (Much like his political godfather, Paxton was acquitted in the senate.) His own staff reported him to the FBI, and resigned en masse accusing him of bribery, abuse of office, and misuse of state resources to benefit a fat-cat donor.1 His wife,divorced him “on biblical grounds”, accusing Paxton of committing adultery, based on “recent discoveries.”

Paxton had evidently endeared himself to Trump by launching lawsuits challenging the 2020 election, and as Sykes notes, that was probably the qualification that mattered to Trump. “Trump was looking for a henchman, not a statesman. And he found the whole package in Paxton.”

Sykes ends his newsletter with a quote from Dan Pfeiffer, commenting on the defeat of Massie in Kentucky: “Everyone Thinks Trump Won Last Night. They’re Wrong.”

Yes, the incumbent President can influence primaries in his own party. And yes, Trump is getting rid of the people he believes wronged him. But spending nearly $20 million to defeat a Republican in a district Trump won by 35 points is not the flex people think it is.

At best, this is a Pyrrhic victory — and Trump’s revenge tour is a big problem for the GOP moving forward.

Here in Indiana, Trump’s outrageously expensive vendetta against the state Senate Republicans who refused to engage in a mid-cycle gerrymander has provided grist for Democratic campaigns and angered the substantial. number of Republicans who voted for those incumbents in the primaries. It remains to be seen whether GOP voters on the losing side will bother to vote in November–and if so, for whom.

5 Comments

  1. Sykes thinks Trump and the GOP should practice strategic thinking. LOL

    Kind of like his strategy in Iran or with the Strait of Hormuz. It literally doesn’t exist except for his plans to steal from the public coffers. His Zionist donors don’t care if he helps himself to a little family money as long as he does what Bibi Netanyahu tells him to do.

    He doesn’t see that MAGA is splintering, and while he and his donors defeated Thomas Massie, it really ticked off the core MAGA who see Trump’s only “strategy” as Make Israel Great Again (MIGA). Massie has friends in the MAGA crowd, specifically from those who rallied around him when pro-Israeli agents spent $33 million to defeat him in his small KY district. While the MAGA crowd is splintering, this one hurt Trump’s cause.

    I read last night that now the government is going to run around and punish gas station businesses for “price-gouging” Americans at the pump. So, instead of blaming Trump, Hegseth, and Israel for attacking Iran, we are going to penalize companies that are negatively impacted by his policies.

    I sincerely hope that before Massie leaves, he reads the names of the elite pedophile offenders on the floor of Congress so it becomes official public record.

    p.s. One of the top leaders in Iran told us yesterday that his country worked for two and a half years to ratify the nuclear proliferation treaty in 2015, and Trump withdrew from it in 2016. He said that one of the reasons hindering their current discussions is they don’t trust America (Trump). #duh

  2. I have sent checks to Jon Ossoff in Georgia; it is more important to maintain his position at the federal level than to support those against the sustaining Indiana Republicans. Also a check to the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Indiana Victory Fund to establish my continued Precinct support of Rep. Andre Carson. The wind destroyed my “Carson” yard sign during his previous reelection campaign. Trump continues getting his revenge on my previous support of Democratic candidates here and in other states by lowering my Social Security checks with his increase in Medicare Payments and complete loss of Medicare Supplemental coverage as my health declines. How many points am I worth in his Revenge Tour?

    Here’s another thought; in November 2017 members of the Indiana Public Employee Retirement Fund (PERF) were informed disbursement of our retirement checks would be sent from State Street Retiree Services in New York City beginning January 1, 2018. To continue receiving our paid for with many years of service to local government offices we had to reregister. Once this was safely accomplished I checked the PERF account while maintained in Indiana and found either $37 or $39 BILLION budget, could not access that information after the transfer. Did Mike Pence buy his Vice Presidential seat with our retirement which continues being an Indiana Legislative fight to maintain every year?

    This year, for some reason, they have shorted my years of service by one year which lowers the annual 13th Check amount, figuring it annually it amounts to almost $20 monthly less. PERF is actually a continuation of the required 2% donation to the Republican party each payday to maintain our jobs. In the 1960s my mother worked for Indiana IRS Department and her donation was deducted from her paychecks. In the 1970s when I began working for Indianapolis Republican City Government, we were required to sand in line and pay, in cash, our 2%, each payday. Mayor Bill Hudnut relieved us of that donation for almost 2 years before PERF was created by Republicans and became our “donation”; required to keep our jobs. How many other red states are dealing with this or similar financial Republican control? When you get down to where the cheese binds, Trump is controlling at all financial levels in Republican states and has been since 2017.

  3. I’m just praying that the Democrats don’t blow their chances again. Focus on the economic pain that people are having and will continue to have without Social Security, if it isn’t fixed quickly. Propose a rational argument for eliminating the cap, possibly lowering the tax rate to four percent on incomes of one million dollars or more. Make sure everyone is aware of the effects on ordinary non billionaires of whatever Republicans propose.

    Here in the “Free (from critical thinking) State of Florida”, the governor has proposed a referendum to abolish property taxes. Sounds like a great idea, right? The efffect: It will starve local governments and school districts and force higher sales taxes, the most regressive tax available, on everything. Homes in this area are selling for anywhere between three hundred thousand and forty five million dollars. IMHO, if you can afford a forty five million dollar home, you can afford to pay the property taxes on it. I just don’t think the average voter will think about that. If you think prices are too high now, imagine what it will be like adding fifteen percent tax to them.

    If I didn’t know better, I might just think that Republicans are trying to consolidate power in state government and destroy public schools, as a little side bonus.

  5. Yes, Trump and Paxton are cut from the same cloth. stained with blood and goo!

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