But within days, Blanchard’s attempt to position herself as the Trump-approved candidate in the race was jeopardized, as it became clear that the 45th president was leaning to support Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) In the GOP primary series for Shelby’s. seat. Four people familiar with Trump’s thinking said Brooks is his preferred candidate and will likely get a ratification in the foreseeable future – if not Monday, when Brooks will formally launch his campaign, then at a later date in the race .
“President Trump can jump out and do it on Monday, but he also wants to wait to make a big splash later,” said one of the people familiar with Trump’s thinking.
Even Brooks was confident in Trump’s support. Brooks said to a stranger on Wednesday afternoon during a phone call – heard by these two reporters as the Alabama congressman entered a Conservative center on Capitol Hill: “The president told me that when I announces that he will say good, strong, positive things about me. Brooks’ team did not respond to a request for comment.
Indeed, few in Trump’s inner circle expected former President Blanchard to ever endorse Brooks, who was one of the first Republican lawmakers to announce a challenge to the 2020 election results last December and to have the ‘inner circle’ for the 45th president’s nod. according to a Trump assistant.
But what probably sealed Blanchard’s fate, according to four people familiar with the matter, was the moment when they said her team was violating a cardinal rule in Trump World: they were exaggerating how much of a Trump insider she really is. .
“The president does not know Lynda very well, and it has taken him and his team back that people in her team overemphasized how close they believe,” said someone close to Trump. “One of her assistants told a donor who wanted to listen that Trump would endorse her, and that left him irritated.”
“They completely overestimated the relationship between Lynda and him,” a Trump adviser added.
A person close to Blanchard has rejected suggestions that the former ambassador or her team blew up her relationship with Trump.
“It’s bullshit. This is someone spinning someone to help Mo. “She will never sell it, she’s not that kind of person,” he said. The Blanchard team did not respond to a request for comment.
More than two months after the January 6 uprising on Capitol Hill, Trump’s blessing remains the most important form of currency in Republican politics. Prospective Republican candidates and sitting GOP lawmakers are working a crazy streak to get his endorsement.
Some have used proven methods to attract Trump’s approval, with access-driven approaches or to apply him with exuberant public praise. The potential candidate for the Ohio Senate, JD Vance, whose memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ became a contemporary of the Trump era, met with former Trump assistants and consultants with close ties to the 45th president. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania representative facing a challenge to his state’s Democratic governor, told Reuters this week that he ‘will be able to call on the president and ask for his help’ after speaking out as a staunch supporter of Trump. ‘s bid for the 2020 Election Result.
But there are still obstacles to successful courtship. Blanchard’s case and others highlight the infamous sensitivity of the former president to exploit him to the advantage of someone else, including politicians who are overselling their proximity to him.
And if a candidate’s actions do not match the pro-Trump brand they are working on, confirming the former president is likely to be so much more difficult.
Two of the sources familiar with Trump’s thinking said he was encouraged to delay his Senate approval after throwing his weight behind Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, a regular critic of Trump’s trade policy and one of a handful of Republican senators opposed his attempt to use presidential powers in the spring of 2019 to build his new long-promised boundary wall. One of the sources said that Trump’s refusal to even small cases of infidelity only increased when he went through the contradictions of the Moran endorsement. As an example, they noted that Trump is currently withholding an endorsement from Indiana Senator Todd Young after Young Georgia rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last month called an embarrassment for the Republican Party. Young’s comments come shortly after Greene claims she received Trump’s ‘full support’ during a call with the former president.
Trump’s’ money and his approval and commitments [are] very valuable. “Many of these candidates are political currency and he plans to hold tougher reins on it,” said a former senior Trump official.
For those seeking Trump’s support, there is also the added challenge of getting hold of him. He currently lives in his luxury private Mar-a-Lago resort and is only accessible by invitation to the club or by those in possession of his new Florida number. This is a major change from his Oval Office days, when members of Congress hoping to speak a word to the president had several ways to make the connection. These days, Trump is surrounded by only a small team of helpers – many of whom have traveled back and forth from Palm Beach to Palm Beach and hold additional positions that require their attention. A relationship with one of his political advisers certainly helps, as well as a line for Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), who regularly plays golf with Trump and encouraged him to support Moran and Young.
A steady stream of Republicans still managed to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago, including House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Louisiana minority whip Steve Scalise and Senator Rick Scott, who chairs the campaign. the Senate GOP. Mike Lee of Utah, who is eligible for re-election in 2022, and the government of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, also held separate fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago over the past month, which included Trump’s comedy.
And some candidates simply tried to flatter their way to a meeting with Trump at his residence in South Florida.
‘A lot of people I’d talked to in Washington talk about Trump’s toxicity, but every candidate I’ve talked to in Congress, the Senate, and local lawmakers is all announcing their position by selling themselves as the ‘Donald Trump Conservatives’. “Former Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said.
Trump’s record of endorsements could provide a window into why so many Republicans seek an inch from the former president. Despite last fall’s re-election, Trump has mostly managed to pick winners in primary games. In 2018, TrackT through FiveThirtyEight found that “Trump-backed candidates went 15-for-17 in GOP primaries for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governorships in which no incumbent participated.” In 2020, both candidates except two Trump endorsements won their respective Republican primary.
But the success rate is because Trump – at least so far – has given endorsements to mainly candidates or former assistants. These include Republican officials such as South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who defeated his Democratic opponent by more than 20 percentage points in 2016, and Senator Mike Crapo from the deep red state of Idaho. Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is following in her father’s footsteps and electing her governor of Arkansas, has also been endorsed. So did former White House former director Max Miller, a GOP primary contender for Ohio’s 16th congressional district, challenging one of the House’s ten Republicans who voted for Trump’s second indictment.