UPDATE (April 19, 10:05 a.m.): Late Monday, former President Trump announced two more endorsements in a pair of South Carolina House races. With these endorsements, Trump has endorsed 103 candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and state governorships so far.
Read more from Jean and Nathaniel on Trump’s 2022 endorsement strategy.
Normally, a one-term presidency would be a sign for a political party to move away, regroup and pivot away from a losing brand. But Donald Trump is not a conventional former president. With the 2022 primary season beginning to pick up in earnest — not counting Texas’s runoff elections, 12 more states will be holding their primaries in May — Trump’s continued influence in the GOP is again being put to the test.
It’s tricky for Trump, though, as he must thread the needle of maintaining his hold on the party while at the same associating his name with winning — in other words, not reminding voters of his 2020 election loss. He’s largely done this by backing some candidates who seem sure bets to win their primaries as well as supporting his fiercest allies, those who advocate the Big Lie (the idea that he actually won the 2020 election). We last looked at Trump’s endorsements back in December, and while many parts of his strategy appear to be the same — namely, he’s still endorsing a lot of candidates — there are signs that Trump is being more selective in who he backs.
When we took a look at Trump’s...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...