Like most presidents, Donald Trump changed the political party he led. But Trump was hardly a normal president.
That was apparent while Trump was president, but in many ways that’s even easier to understand now that he is out of office. Unlike previous presidents, Trump has refused to take a step back from the limelight. Instead, he has continued to try and be the party’s kingmaker, playing a far more active role in the 2022 primaries than he did in 2018 and 2020. His endorsements have gotten bolder and more aggressive down ballot, and he’s often used them to root out those who oppose him or his false claims about the 2020 election results.
He also still commands considerable personal loyalty among voters within the party. But as I’ve written before, there is evidence that the alliance between Republicans and Trump is uneasy, and it could test how much clout he carries in the party. To be sure, that doesn’t mean we should expect Republicans to break from Trump en masse, but nevertheless, there are signs that both Trump’s style and ideas are evolving as other politicians take them up and inevitably change them.
In the last few years, a number of ambitious politicians have established a national name for themselves by claiming the Trumpist mantle — all while offering voters their own interpretations of Trump-style conservatism. This group includes governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia; senators like Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of...
QUEENSLAND— A nurse in Australia has been formally reprimanded after admitting he submitted forged documents to Qantas (QF) in an attempt to secure a refund for a non-refundable airline ticket. Th...