Donald Trump might be the only person in America who couldn’t beat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
And Trump’s also the reason Republicans performed so poorly in the midterm elections, when Americans were furious about inflation and crime and the border. He singlehandedly blew it for the GOP, and in the process delivered the party crown to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Despite his crushing loss in 2020, Trump remained the titular head of the party. He endorsed candidate after candidate in the midterms and so expected to have a good night that on Election Day, Trump (who can’t spend one second out of the spotlight) announced he’d have an announcement to announce on November 15.
But except for the deepest red states, nearly every candidate Trump backed lost. And Trump picked big-time losers in winnable races, most of whom were election deniers, claiming Trump actually won in 2020. Voters simply said nuh uh.
Trump’s biggest loss was in Pennsylvania, where a Democrat who suffered a stroke and could barely utter a coherent sentence defeated a hand-picked Trump candidate, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Remember, Trump’s endorsement put Oz on top of David McCormick, a former undersecretary of the Treasury Department under George W. Bush, in the GOP primary. McCormick had been picked to run for the Senate seat vacated by popular Republican Pat Toomey. And McCormick most likely would’ve crushed the bumbling John Fetterman.
In a lesser-watched race, this one for a Michigan seat in the U.S. House, Trump backed John Gibbs. Gibbs is a former official in Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development, but he spouted some wacky stuff, like claiming Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta participated in a Satanic ritual. And, of course, he also declared that Trump actually won in 2020.
Trump’s endorsement put Gibbs on top in the GOP primary against Rep. Peter Meijer. But Gibbs got crushed 54.8% to 41.9% in Tuesday’s election.
Democrats also outfoxed Trump. Liberals spent $53 million to bolster Trump-picked candidates in nine key states — California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — as part of the questionable strategy.
That worked out perfectly.
After Gibbs lost in Michigan, Kevin Robillard of the Huffington Post tweeted: “With this race call, every single Republican who won their primary with help from Democratic meddling has lost in the general election.”
And with this race call, every single Republican who won their primary with help from Democratic meddling has lost in the general election. https://t.co/jwu7diAq1N
— Kevin Robillard 🇺🇸 (@Robillard) November 9, 2022
In almost every race that Trump meddled in, a strong Republican candidate was poised to run, only to be knocked off by a fringe candidate that went on to lose to the Democrat, despite the horrible atmosphere for Democrats and the toxicity of President Biden.
Take Arizona. Republican leaders were pushing for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to run against Democrat Mark Kelly for the Senate seat, but Trump backed election denier Blake Masters. While Ducey won for governor in 2018 with a 14.9-point edge, Kelly leads Masters 51.4% to 46.4, with several hundred thousand votes yet to count.
Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist, put it succinctly: “I mean, we had a historic opportunity and Trump’s recruitment of unelectable candidates blew it for us. Trump’s now lost three elections in a row for the Republican Party and it’s time to snap out of this foolishness,” he said on Fox News.
The night was so bad for Trump that some in his inner circle are suggesting he put off whatever that November 15 announcement was going to be.
“I know there’s a temptation to starting talking about 2024 — no, no, no, no, no,” former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News.
And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had predicted a GOP pickup of 40+ seats in the House, said Trump should rethink.
“I think Trump’s got to look at the results and be troubled,” Gingrich told Just The News. “I can tell you, for me, this was not the result I expected. I thought we’d win a lot more seats.”
“I mean, just in my own emails today, the number of people who want somebody other than Trump who have decided, literally overnight, that person is going to be DeSantis, he’s going to find it almost impossible to avoid running,” Gingrich said on Wednesday.
Trump’s ego is far too massive to expect him to bail on 2024 and back the Florida governor. But he should know now that if he runs again, he’ll lose. Maybe he should retire and play golf.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.
