Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Concern trolling
We begin today with Aaron Blake of The Washington Post, sharing the “concerns” that Republicans should have with Donald Trump’s electoral track record—among other things.
The former president currently polls competitively with President Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup. But that doesn’t mean Republicans wouldn’t be saddling up for a rocky ride.
For a few reasons.
Despite Trump polling relatively well right now, his electoral track record is unmistakably poor:
- He lost the popular vote in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
- His party lost the popular vote in the 2018 midterm elections by the largest margin since the 1980s.
- When Republicans lost the Senate after the 2020 election, Trump became the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose both chambers of Congress and the presidency in a single term. (Trump recently attacked Haley by saying she would lose all three, ignoring the fact that he himself already had.)
- The 2022 midterms, in which Trump sought to exert control over his party’s course, was arguably the worst in a century for a party that didn’t control the White House. Trump-backed candidates also routinely underperformed other Republicans.
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...Republicans would be placing a lot of faith in a guy whose political instincts haven’t exactly rewarded that.
All valid “concerns.” As if the Republican Party cares ...