Can’t run from Trump

Most media outlets, as they cling to their “Biden is doomed” narrative despite a sunnier economic and legislative outlook, do not seem interested in exploring a giant challenge for many Republicans: They cannot associate themselves too closely with the most dominant personality in their party — who refuses to be ignored.

Some Republicans, normally wary of inciting former president Donald Trump’s wrath, have acknowledged that Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor’s race despite Trump, not because of him. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, R, declared on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “There’s no question, Glenn Youngkin did a good job of not alienating that base, but Trump never stepped foot in the state, which was a great thing for Glenn Youngkin and the country.”

While Republicans lack the courage to denounce the former president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and continue to lure his followers with racist fearmongering, most are smart enough to grasp that his direct appearance in hotly contested elections would do as much to bolster Democrats’ enthusiasm and alienate swing voters as it would to turn out the GOP base.

A newcomer with no voting record such as Youngkin can zigzag between fealty to Trump and promises of normalcy in an off-year election in Virginia. But virtually every Republican member of Congress will be running on a record of staunch defense of the “big lie” of a stolen election, Trump-style nihilism (e.g., refusal to raise the debt ceiling) and a voting record dictated by Trump’s flunky, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). GOP Senate incumbents will need to defend their actions regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection.

MAGA candidates appear ascendant in Republican Senate primaries. In Ohio, Republican Senate candidates Josh Mandel and J.D. Vance are vying to be the most unhinged pro-Trump messenger.

New York magazine’s Sarah Jones sums up the primary contest simply: “Who Is Ohio’s Biggest Clown?” The question no doubt stumping readers torn between awarding the prize to Vance for his approximation of, as Jones puts it, “a child playing dress-up in Trump’s suits” or to Mandel for his bizarre utterances and references to Nazi Germany while whining about covid-19 restrictions.

The more fervently the GOP leadership rises to Trump’s defense and attacks truth-tellers such as Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the more they reestablish his dominance as the driving force behind the party.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Cheney wisely cautioned, “I think the only way the Republican Party can go forward in strength is if we reject the lie, if we reject what happened on Jan. 6, if we reject the efforts that President Trump made, frankly, to steal the election.” For such sage counsel, her party has practically excommunicated her.

Republicans who continue to tie themselves not only to Trump personally but to his anti-democratic, vaccine-skeptical and virulent anti-immigrant messaging should consider how they will win over non-MAGA voters in 2022. Freshmen Republican House members posing as practical moderates who flipped seats from blue to red in 2020 might find the balancing act especially tricky.

If Democrats are smart, they will present midterm voters not only with a record of success but with a question: Do they really want to be governed by MAGA Republicans who routinely gaslight voters, undermine elections, wink at violence, demonize immigrants, operate in a fact-free universe and incite white grievance?