And Then There Were Two: Anti-Trumpers Are Dropping Like Flies

Of the ten members of Congress who cast a vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump, only two from deep blue states – Reps. David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington – are left standing. It’s almost as if Mr. Trump is at the carnival penny arcade, picking them off one-by-one. However, the downfall of these anti-Trumpers carries a deeper message that only a few on the left are willing to acknowledge: The GOP is no longer the party of Mitt Romney. He did not leave them; they left him.

Anti-Trumpers in the Crosshairs

There’s an old meme from the days when Donald Trump was still in office, and the media was in a frenzy about Operation Crossfire Hurricane. Trump would say something like, “They’re not really after me; they’re after you. I’m just in the way.” If primary results are any indication, then the truth is in the joke, as the adage goes.

A ton of ink has been spilled on the historic primary loss by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in what can only be termed a humiliating repudiation of her that occurred ironically in the “Land of Cheney.” The leftist media was prepared for Wyoming Republicans to kick Cheney hard and published several articles with various explanations for her widespread rejection.

Those on the left appear to be coming to grips with the fact that Trump-endorsed candidates are winning and anti-Trumpers are losing because Republicans either like the former president or, at the very least, support his policies.

The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher opined: “[H]er [Cheney’s] lopsided defeat in Wyoming on Tuesday also exposed the remarkable degree to which the former president still controls the party’s present — and its near future.” The word “remarkable” is telling. Hidden just below the surface of that word is the ring of sheer disbelief.

Goldmacher correctly noted, “But the outcome in Wyoming showed that while anti-Trump Republicans can count on ample money and media attention, the actual Republican constituency for them is far more limited.”

Bingo!

As of Wednesday, August 17, Fox News Research reported that 161 Trump-endorsed candidates since 2020 have won and nine have lost. This represents a 95% success rate. Don’t want to believe Fox? Let’s take a peek at a prominent Washington newspaper’s tally. One only needs to see the sea of red, which represents Trump-supported winners, to get the point.

“The race attracted more voters than any Republican primary in Wyoming’s 132-year history — serving as a stark example of how Trump has kept his hold on the party after losing the presidency in 2020,” this left-leaning Washington daily newspaper was forced to note. Thus, it is finally dawning on the elite media that millions of people are coming out of the woodwork to either (a.) support Trump-endorsed candidates or (b.) repudiate the anti-Trumpers.

On August 17, Politico interviewed White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who theorized that Cheney’s drubbing “tells you a lot about the state of the Republican Party in this country right now, and how extreme and how devoted to Donald Trump it is.”

That Trump has rebuilt the GOP from the ground up and Republicans writ large are willing to back his endorsed candidates appears to be a ghastly reality that is finally sinking into the left’s consciousness. As impossible as it may seem, millions of Republicans support, if not Trump himself, then at least his policies.

However, Democrats don’t quite seem ready to entirely forego the belief that Republicans live in a zombie state under the diabolical spell of Orange Man Bad. The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel recently opined, “Trump derangement syndrome has a curious way of scrambling coherent thought,” which is perhaps why it has taken them so long to recognize the political strength of the former president. So where does all their vitriol go? Why, it is aimed at the vilest of all – the Republican electorate. Here are a few of the 4,000-plus comments from a prominent Washington newspaper regarding Cheney’s loss. One can’t help but see the aversion the left has for the pro-Trump Republicans:

“At what point do the republicans just admit their voters are misinformed, uneducated and racist, and that is exactly how they like them.”

“That sign with trump should read SAVE AMERICA FROM trump AND THE ILLITERITE HITLERITES”

“Your traitorous narcissistic orange grifter is just a private citizen fleecing the pathetic fools who support his crimes.”

“The right is NOW authoritarian. NOTHING like that on the left. Crazy lies!”

“America, we have a problem. The white nationalist party of MAGA is rising among a small but emboldened group of True Believers who will follow their Führer where ever he leads them.”

Two arguments cry out from these online comments. First, there is a rabid revulsion to those who support Mr. Trump, and second, those voting in favor of Trump-backed candidates are a “small but emboldened group.” The latter narrative is now, finally, being rejected by the establishment left.

The elephant in the room appears to be taking center stage, i.e., there are millions of Republicans who not only like Trump but are in favor of the candidates he chooses. The very thought of this is frightening to Democrats of all stripes. No longer can they deny reality. Conservatives who support Trump-endorsed candidates should recognize that, while those on the left may loathe Donald Trump, it is you, the Republican, whom they genuinely despise.