Republican underperformance is being blamed on “low quality” candidates. The fact that so many of them got nominated has a lot to do with Trump — and specifically with his mania for denying that he lost in 2020. My new column makes the connection:
Most voters don’t believe this bit of Trump mythology, and Republicans who have won statewide in politically competitive states — people such as Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona and Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire — were not willing to endorse it.
The candidates who agreed that Trump had won in 2020, or pretended to, didn’t just look disconnected from reality and potentially dangerous for democracy. They also looked weak, as though they were more interested in pleasing Trump than in either serving the voters or being themselves. Before the election, Republicans and Democrats debated whether voters would care more about inflation or abortion. Avenging Trump’s victimhood turned out to be much lower on voters’ priority list than either.