For years, former President Donald Trump's near-universal adoration among the Republican voting base led Republican lawmakers who once criticized him to reverse course and become some of his most valiant defenders in a bid to win his approval.
As recently as last week, Trump once again credited his endorsement as a game changer for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won reelection last year, and whom Trump now despises.
Trump said:
"He was losing his election—I'll tell you, Kentucky is a great place, they love me, I love them. And I was way up and he was losing by two points and he said, 'Sir, I'd like to see you.' Comes over, 'Would you give me a big endorsement and could you do a television commercial?' And I didn't love the idea, because I'm not too high on him, but it was between him or a woman named Amy McGrath. ... He was gonna get blown away, and I endorsed him and he went up 20 points."
Last December, Trump praised his endorsement of a Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate on his now-defunct Twitter:
"Two years ago, the great people of Wisconsin asked me to endorse a man named Brian Hagedorn for State Supreme Court Justice, when he was getting destroyed in the Polls against a tough Democrat Candidate who had no chance of losing. After my endorsement, Hagedorn easily won!"
And that March, he wrote:
"[House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy informed me that I was 20 for 20 on Tuesday with respect to my Endorsement of candidates. Sadly, I didn't get that information from the Fake News Media. They don't report those things, or the far more than Dems cumulative votes, despite no opposition!"
These were just a few of the times Trump heaped praise on the power of his endorsement, but the data has never consistently reflected that Trump's endorsement means a surefire victory.
That hard truth just materialized with the results of the special Congressional election in Texas's Sixth District to replace its Congressman, Ronald Wright, who died earlier this year due to COVID-19 complications. After a crowded jungle primary back in May, the race was between two Republican candidates: Wright's widow, Susan Wright and Texas state Representative Jake Ellzey.
Trump issued numerous endorsements for Wright, including a lengthy phone interview at a tele-rally the night before the election.
But when the election came to pass, Ellzey defeated Wright by over six points.
Trump, attempting to quell concerns that his kingmaker status may be wearing off, scrambled to paint the loss as a win, citing Ellzey's own pro-Trump agenda to Axios:
"[T]his is not a loss, again, I don't want to claim it is a loss, this was a win. …The big thing is, we had two very good people running that were both Republicans. That was the win."
Trump's attempt to spin didn't go over well.
Down is up. Black is white. Losing is winning. This guy does not live in reality.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Michele Dalise (@Michele Dalise) 1627500925
It\u2019s always someone else\u2019s fault, isn\u2019t it?https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Ravi Manabala (@Ravi Manabala) 1627520362
IT\u2019S RIGGED AGAIN AGAIN!!!https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Luke Zaleski (@Luke Zaleski) 1627507776
very strange remarks here.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Jake Sherman (@Jake Sherman) 1627499832
Only Trump would take a loss, and say it was a win. Rinse and repeat. No surprise coming from the guy who STILL says he won the 2020 election. He didn\u2019t.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— April (@April) 1627522032
Some think Trump's endorsement may be losing its luster.
Decisively shows the lie that Republican politicians have to embrace Trump to win GOP primarieshttps://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— NeoCon (@NeoCon) 1627517802
The "Kingmaker" lost:\n--the Senate\n--the House\n--the White House\n\nIt's almost as though everything that The Former Guy touches dies. Hear that, @GOPLeader?https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Marxist Communist Socialist Wilcox (@Marxist Communist Socialist Wilcox) 1627514137
Now tell me again why the #GQP still suck up to the disgrace, twice impeached, future felon, ex-president? \n\nSiding with him doesn't even help win in an R vs R race.\n\nIt energizes the opposition.\n\nHopefully, this will sink in as more and more comes out in the 1/6 investigationhttps://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— dave g (@dave g) 1627499369
The man lost the House, Senate, & White House yet the GOP still thinks they need him. You couldn\u2019t script it better for the Dems if you tried.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1420454319292391431\u00a0\u2026— Adriana (@Adriana) 1627499296
Just one day after the TX-06 special election—on Wednesday—Trump suffered another display of growing Republican mutiny. Though he issued a warning that he'd endorse the primary opponents of any Republican Senators who voted to advance the Biden administration's bipartisan infrastructure bill, 17 Republicans joined every Democratic Senator, allowing the bill to advance to debate.
Trump railed against those 17 Republicans in yet another rambling statement.
