I wrote for Politico today on Trump and the midterms:
Republicans have looked past his selfishness in the belief that Trump is the GOP’s unique electoral savior, a view that was dubious when he was at his height and is less convincing now.
You nominate FDR for a third time after he’s won the first two times (and wash, rinse and repeat). You make a romantic icon of a promising young leader cut down in his prime, like JFK. You revere the two-term presidents, like Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, who went out on high notes.
It’s passing strange to become similarly devoted to a political figure who barely won a fluky presidential election, then lost a winnable reelection bid, before dragging the country through a bonkers attempt to overturn the result, with the episode ending in futility and bloodshed. . . .
It’s not a coincidence that the two most impressive Republican performers in the 2022 midterms, Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis, were both governors who could forge an identity distinct from the party’s national brand. They both had the opportunity as executives to demonstrate competence (and did). They both are hard workers and shrewd operators. And neither bent a knee to Trump; indeed, they got attacked by him.
It is telling that Trump was more favorably inclined to no-hoper Doug Mastriano, the Jan. 6-attending Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate whose dreadful performance helped sink Mehmet Oz, than two conservative stalwarts whose electoral and governing success are a tribute to the party.