Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) questioned whether 75-year-old President Donald Trump would be the leader of the Republican Party if the GOP doesn’t win back the House and Senate in the 2022 Midterm elections. Graham recognizes Trump’s magnetic pull to the Republican Party since sweeping through the GOP primaries and beating Democrat nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Nov. 8, 2016. A former rival during the 2016 GOP primaries, Graham learned the hard way not to bet against Trump, whose sweep to the GOP nomination divided the Republican Party. While success breeds more success, Trump still created lasting divisions in the GOP that last even today, with a rebellious part of the Republican Party opposed Trump’s reelection. Graham did everything possible to help Trump get reelected but the flamboyant former president ran into a buzz saw.
Members of Trump’s own party, led by conservatives like William Kristol, George Will and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, actively worked to prevent Trump from winning a second term. Trump made a lot of enemies in the party puching back at endless criticism but, more importantly, baseless charges that came from his former National Security Adviser John Bolton who betrayed Trump through the 2016 campaign. Once Trump fired Bolton Sept. 10, 2019, Bolton joined the warpath against Trump, never a good sign when your own party tries to sabotage you. Bolton published a defamatory book about Trump, essentially joining Democrats in their attempt to impeach Trump for his phone call with 43-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Repbulicans like Graham unfairly put the onus of the 2022 Midterm election on Trump, when the GOP should be accountable to itself.
If Republicans can’t take back the House, what does that have to do with Trump, despite working to get GOP candidates elected. “The Key to 2022 is putting your best team on the field,” Graham said, seeking to win back the House and Senate. “The question is will we allow the most electable candidates to come out of the primary?” “This is where Trump becomes important,” Graham said, creating an artificial distinction for the GOP to measure Trump’s results. No one in the GOP should put the onus of winning House or Senate on a past president. To win election, Republicans will have to present a better alternative to Democrat candidates, nothing really to do with Trump. At 75-years-olf age, it’s unrealistic to think that Trump’s drawing card will make-or-break GOP House and Senate candidates. Trump can hold rallies but unless they’re for himself, they won’t have much effect.
When Trump campaigned in 2016 and 2020 he received unprecedented crowds largely because he was far the most entertaining candidate. Lindsey Graham said Trump “beat him like a drum,” admitting he was a far more appealing candidate than anyone in the GOP field. So when it comes to Trump barnstorming for GOP candidates, it’s unrealistic to think he can reverse the effect of a bad GOP candidate. “That common ground is that he likes him, and I’ve come to like him,” said Graham, knowing that Trump as a superior candidate in 2016 and 2020. By the time the 2020 election came around, Trump was so demonized in the press by Democrats and his own party, he was being dismantled one voter at a time. Democrats campaign strategy involved tying Trump to the coronavirus global pandemic, increasing death and destruction around the country, despite playing no role in the mess.
By the time voters tuned into the election in Aug. 2020, Trump was viewed as a hapless buffoon that was responsible for growing deaths and economic destruction in the U.S. Whether Graham admits it or not, Trump’s a lightening rod for Democrats and members of his own party. Whatever happened Jan. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection” at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump took the lion’s share of the media blame, whether it’s true or not. Thinking Trump will save the GOP’s changes of taking back the House and Senate in the 2022 Midterm elections is preposterous. Trump’s an entertaining character, good stage performer but is also a rallying cry for Democrats seeking to prevent his political comeback Graham has to get real that the GOP needs someone other than Trump to go out and campaign for House and Senate GOP candidates.
Graham is kidding himself that Trump, at 75-years-of-age, has a comeback in him, seeking to return to politics. When Trump was beaten by 78-year-old Joe Biden Nov. 8, 2020 it marked an undeniable demographic shift in electorate, especially if Democrats continue to push in the next election for universal mail-in ballots. Graham said Nov. 10, 2020 that if Democrats get permanent universal mail-in ballots, Republicans may never win the president again. With Democrats enjoying a sizable voter registration advantage to Republicans, they have a leg up in national elections. Whether Republicans can take back the House or Senate has little to do whether or not Trump stumps for candidates. “The Democrats are doing their part to put us back in the majority,” Graham said. “Their agenda is far more liberal that most people thought it would be,” not realizing the electorate wants progressive candidates.
