Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Oct 10, 2021 13:22:20 GMT -5
POLITICO Playbook: GOP hands Trump the party
By TARA PALMERI 10/10/2021 11:04 AM EDT
There’s a big gap between the GOP message and Donald Trump’s message, but the party establishment is now along for the ride. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
DRIVING THE DAY
“Nine months ago, Republicans were questioning DONALD TRUMP’s place as the lead fixture of their party. Saturday night provided the clearest evidence yet that they want him right there.”
This morning’s must-read piece comes from Meridith McGraw, reporting from Saturday night’s Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, where we saw a clear glimpse of two interrelated dynamics that are shaping the GOP as it marches into the 2022 midterms:
1) There’s a big gap between the GOP message and Trump’s message. On Saturday night we heard both from Trump himself — the former when he read the speech that was written for him, and the latter when he said what he really thought.
— The GOP message: “After just nine months under [President JOE] BIDEN, violent criminals and bloodthirsty gangs are taking over our streets; illegal aliens and deadly drug cartels are taking over our borders; inflation is taking over our economy; China’s taking over our jobs; the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan; lunatic leftists are taking over our schools; and radical socialists are taking over our country — and we’re not going to let that happen.”
— Trump’s message: “I’m telling you the single biggest issue, as bad as the border is and it’s horrible, horrible what they’re doing, they’re destroying our country — but as bad as that is, the single biggest issue — the issue that gets the most pull, the most respect, the biggest cheers — is talking about the election fraud of the 2020 presidential election.”
That’s a problem for Republicans. Many of them want to make the midterm elections about the issues — inflation, the border, Afghanistan, etc. — to set the election up as a referendum on Biden’s presidency. Trump doesn’t. The bulk of his speech, Meridith writes, “was devoted to his baseless claim [that] the 2020 election was stolen.” In focusing on that issue above all others, Trump effectively makes the 2022 election a referendum on him instead of Biden.
2) The GOP establishment is now along for the ride. “Trump has held rallies since leaving the White House,” Meridith writes. “But never have elected Republicans of such tenure and stature appeared with him. And the presence of [Sen. CHUCK] GRASSLEY in particular signified that whatever qualms the GOP may have had with Trump are now faded memories; whatever questions they had about the direction of the party have been resolved. …
“Back in January, Grassley offered a stinging condemnation for Trump’s behavior in the aftermath of the 2020 election — the type of statement that, at its heart, suggested a desire to rid himself of the messiness. … But Grassley is in a different place now. He recently announced, at age 88, that he is running for an eighth term. And with it, Trump has gone from nuisance to needed. …
“For Trump, this is a wonderful gift. The ex-president has been openly discussing the likelihood that he will run for president again. To be greeted with open arms in the all-important, first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state of Iowa was a flashing-neon light signal to voters that this party remains his. And he’s done it all while still launching broadsides against current leadership (he eviscerated Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL at various points on Saturday for striking a deal with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling and for not having the ‘courage to challenge the election’) and without offering a morsel of remorse for how his presidency ended.”
www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/10/10/gop-hands-trump-the-party-494648
I think Trump will do anything he can to win the next election. Will be very interesting!
