Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Maggie Haberman Doesn't Have As Much Of A Dog In These Fights

As most people I follow on Twitter. so I like to read her take on things.  First, let's go with the Axios article:

Trump himself disputed the result had dented his power. In a phone call with Axios on Wednesday, the former president conceded McIntosh had pushed him to support Wright but blamed Democrats — not the Club for Growth — for Ellzey's victory.

He also said he actually "won" because Wright had bested Ellzey in the initial primary and the runoff came down to two Republicans he liked.

"I think this is the only race we've lost together," Trump said of McIntosh and the Club for Growth, before catching himself mid-sentence on the word "lost."

"This is the only race we've ... this is not a loss, again, I don't want to claim it is a loss, this was a win. …The big thing is, we had two very good people running that were both Republicans. That was the win."
Trump is notorious for shifting or refusing to accept blame for any failure, whether as a businessman or a politician.

The Club for Growth spent more than $1 million on the run-off, making it easily the top outside spender.

Alternatively, Wright got as far as she did on name recognition and the sympathy vote.  It just wasn't far enough. Word is she ran a lousy campaign and was a poor fundraiser.  And frankly, this should not be overlooked:

“One of the things that we’ve seen from this campaign is a positive outlook — a Reagan Republican outlook for the future of our country — is what the people of the 6th District really, really want,” said Ellzey, who had faced a storm of attacks from Susan Wright’s side.

Got to wonder how much that message did to win him the runoff.  It's clear Trump's endorsement didn't inspire Wright's supporters to come back a second time.  I think the takeaway here is that Trump was a non-factor.  

Given all the stories about polling lately, here's a fun Axios fact, kids!

Between the lines: The Wright campaign and the Club for Growth also cited internal polling to reassure Team Trump of Wright's strength. The polling proved to be way off.

An early June survey from the Wright campaign had her up by 15 points and a survey last week — by the American Viewpoint research company used by the Wright campaign — had her leading Ellzey by 10 points, 44%-34%, according to a source with direct knowledge of the results.

The Club for Growth's own polling also had Wright up by double digits, said a source familiar.

And here's the "bottom line":

Bottom line: A source close to the situation said they think Trump will be more cautious about whose advice he listens to when it comes to intervening in Republican primaries.

Other Trump advisers said the episode has damaged the Club for Growth's credibility.

They also acknowledged the former president can't afford too many more losses if he wants to preserve his power inside the Republican Party.

Yeah, I think that narrative is already hardening like amber around the mosquito:

And the Streisand effect is real: Yeah, and about that "People misled Trump": Seems Great Leader is not a...great leader.  He's more of an easily duped fool (yeah, the defenses of this failure are not good ones). ???, you ask? Well, it seems Trump is freaking because the infrastructure bill that eluded him (because he never understood the first thing about negotiating with Congress) is about to come true, and he can't stand it (no, I won't post anymore of Liz Harrington's tweets.  Go to Raw Story if you need to see it.).

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