U.S. President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party is slipping. Sort of. Because even though the president’s support among GOP voters has diminished, his demonstrable strength is still swaying the party’s primary contests.
The Indiana state senators who quashed the president’s redistricting scheme there? Several were defeated for renomination on May 5. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict the president at his second impeachment trial? Defeated on May 16 after Trump called him a “sleazebag” and a “terrible guy.” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who Trump opposed as revenge for collaborating with Democrats to force the release of the Epstein files? Defeated on May 19. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the loyal foot soldier who the president thought wasn’t loyal enough? Defeated in a Tuesday runoff by scandal-plagued, Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
There are more examples of Trump’s prowess in GOP primaries. But you get the picture. So how does that square with his increasingly precarious political standing?
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