Donald Trump is Pulling the Strings in Races Up and Down the Country – Newsweek

Donald Trump intervening in who he believes needs to be running in the Ohio GOP Senate primary is the latest example of the former president trying to influence elections across the country in order to see a return of a MAGA-majority government.

On Thursday, Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno announced he is dropping out of the crowded Republican primary race after speaking to the former president and coming to the agreement that there are "too many Trump" candidates already vying for the seat.

Trump thanked Moreno for his "time and effort" during the campaign which he spent more than $3.75 million of his own money on.

"His decision will help ensure the MAGA Ticket wins BIG, as it is all over the Country. Thank you, Bernie, for your support and keep fighting," Trump said.

The move from Trump was a slight change in tactics in his overall plan to remain the de facto leader of the GOP ahead of the midterms and the 2024 election.

For months, Trump has made it his mission to see those who voted to impeach him for inciting the January 6 insurrection, as well those who don't support the view that the 2020 Election was rigged, defeated in the upcoming elections.

The former president has endorsed dozens of candidates running across all forms of government who seem willing to continue to push his voter fraud claims, the end goal being for the GOP to retake both the House and the Senate with his chosen lawmakers, pushing his MAGA politics from the inside.

Trump has been so keen to try parachuting his staunch allies into congressional seats that several of his picks are even challenging incumbent members of his own party who have dared to stand against him.

As noted by The Atlantic, there are three GOP incumbents who Trump would like to see lose their seats: Representative Liz Cheney, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Governor Brian Kemp.

Cheney, a Wyoming congresswoman, is one of only two Republicans who is part of the January 6 House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.

She is arguably the most vocal Trump critic within the GOP and is currently facing a censure vote by the RNC having previously been ousted from her role as the party's conference chair over her repeated criticism of Trump.

In September, Trump endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman in her attempt to unseat Cheney. According to The Atlantic, Trump has been engaging in minor developments of Hageman's campaign, including going through copies of local news coverage and op-eds with a Sharpie pen and mailing the candidate notes of encouragement.

Another Republican who Trump has set his sights on is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial over the January 6 attack who is standing for re-election in 2022.

In November, Trump endorsed rank outsider Kelly Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration who has promoted claims of election fraud, for the Alaska seat.

Trump made no secret of his plan to back anyone who is challenging those he considered an enemy of the MAGA movement, soon after announcing his backing of Tshibaka.

"Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers! In the Senate, the 'Disaster from Alaska,' Lisa Murkowski (challenge accepted), must go. There is 'almost' nobody worse," the former president said.

Trump is also using his influence in areas of Alaskan politics. In December, he warned the state's incumbent GOP Governor Mike Dunleavy that he will endorse him, but only on the condition that he doesn't back Murkowski.

"If Mike endorses her, which is his prerogative, my endorsement of him is null and void, and of no further force or effect!" Trump said.

Another GOP politician facing the scorn of Trump is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

Kemp, who only narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2018 after getting unbridled support from Trump, has since earned the former president's ire after he upheld the state's 2020 Election results, which ruled President Joe Biden the winner.

In response, Trump spent months urging David Perdue, a former Georgia senator who lost his seat in January 2020, to challenge the governor.

In a video confirming his backing of Perdue, Trump stated how the Democrats "walked all over" Kemp during the last election campaign.

"He was afraid of Stacey 'The Hoax' Abrams. Brian Kemp let us down. We can't let it happen again," Trump said. He also reiterates that Perdue is the only person running for Georgia governor that has his endorsement.

The significance of the midterms now has an added subplot with regard to how much power and influence Trump still has.

In previous years, Trump tended to mainly pick primary candidates who were already the favorite to win.

However, as noted by Five Thirty Eight, Trump's desire to endorse people who oppose him or the MAGA movement has meant he has backed more than 20 candidates who are up against incumbents, who rarely lose renomination.

Republican strategist Karl Rove said that Trump's 2022 endorsements based on "how vocally" they are willing to back his dismissed voter fraud cries rather than on their "viability" may ultimately backfire.

"In his business career, Mr. Trump put his name on everything from steaks to menswear to vodka, with mixed results," Rove wrote in a December editorial for the Wall Street Journal.

"Now he risks more than diluting his personal brand. Mr. Trump could help some Democrats hang on in an otherwise devastating election cycle in 2022 by forcing their opponents to harangue voters about an unpopular topic. If the GOP can't learn to shake the Trump obsession with alleged election fraud, the former president could even hand Democrats the White Houseagain."

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Donald Trump is Pulling the Strings in Races Up and Down the Country - Newsweek