Ahead Of North Carolina Rally, Trump Forces Candidates To Go “Full MAGA”

Ahead of Trump’s Saturday rally in North Carolina, news coverage is highlighting how he is creating chaos in GOP Senate primaries: endorsing Republicans who are failing to clear primary fields and remain “locked in a dead heat,” forcing candidates to go “full MAGA” to prove their loyalty, and looming over primaries where he has yet to endorse as GOP candidates fight to convince voters they are “the most Trump-like in the race.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Amanda Sherman-Baity: “Trump has saddled Republicans with chaotic and bruising primaries – and GOP candidates’ pathetic obsession with one man will lead their campaigns to defeat in 2022.”

See for yourself the latest updates on how Trump is causing chaos in GOP Senate primaries:

In North Carolina:

• The last time Trump rallied in the Tar Heel State he endorsed Ted Budd, a move that “came as a surprise to state party leaders and other candidates” and threw the primary into chaos.

• Axios reported that Trump’s visit this Saturday “caps a hard week for Pat McCrory.” With Trump likely to go after the former governor, McCory is going on the attack against Budd – calling him an “embarrassment, to the state, to our party and to Congress” and launching a new ad that ties Budd to Madison Cawthorn.

• With Budd and McCrory jockeying in the polls and Mark Walker remaining in the race, Reuters reported that “the crowded field could force a July run-off, risking Republican chances of keeping the seat.”

In Arizona:

• The Arizona Republic reported last week that “Mark Brnovich’s Republican rivals in the race for the U.S. Senate are blasting his office’s investigation into the 2020 election,” as GOP infighting continues to escalate over Trump’s Big Lie.

• Blake Masters “has pilloried Brnovich and his investigation on social media and in campaign pitches” and is accusing him of just “going through the motions”; Jim Lamon has attacked Brnovich as a “do nothing attorney general”; Justin Olson charged that Brnovich “appears to be attempting to run out the clock”; and McGuire is “questioning the legitimacy of Brnovich’s investigation.” 

• As his rivals lob attacks, the Republic reports that “Brnovich’s moves on the 2020 election front are widely seen as key to an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.” Facing “intense political pressure to validate” Trump, Brnovich issued a report this week on ‘election fraud’ in Arizona’s 2020 election.

In Colorado:

• MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell headlined an “Election Truth Rally” on Tuesday with Colorado GOP Senate frontrunner Ron Hanks. Hanks attended the January 6th insurrection and even used “his own insurrection footage in [a] campaign ad.” The former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party told Bloomberg this week, ​“we nominate Ron Hanks, you can kiss this election goodbye.”

• The Colorado Sun reported ahead of Hanks and Lindell’s rally this week that Republicans’ hopes of winning in Colorado will be complicated by “those in the party still focused on baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.” 

In Georgia:

• Trump’s endorsement has not stopped GOP primary opponents and Georgia Republicans from attacking Herschel Walker – saying that he is “really doing a disservice to the voters of Georgia,” asking “what is he hiding and what is he afraid of,” and charging that “an empty podium is going to argue better” than Walker himself.

• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week that “the attacks could ramp up significantly” after “two outside groups aligned with Black and Saddler have pledged to work together to weaken Walker’s campaign.”

In Nevada:

• Adam Laxalt has fully embraced Trump’s Big Lie and continues to come under fire for “preparing ‘voter fraud’ challenges — 220 days before [the] election.” Salon reported that Laxalt “has repeatedly bragged to allies and supporters that he plans to launch legal challenges months before anyone votes.”

• Laxalt has failed to clear the GOP field despite Trump’s endorsement – his primary challenger charged that Laxalt’s campaign was for “D.C. elitists.”

In New Hampshire:

• Former Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski doesn’t “believe the field is completed yet,” with the New York Sun and NH Journal reporting that Lewndowski is rumored to be recruiting Wendy Long, who has run and lost two Senate races in New York, into the already crowded primary.

In Ohio:

• NPR highlighted how Trump looms large over the nasty Ohio GOP primary, writing last week that “In Ohio’s GOP Senate race, there are Trump wannabees — but no Trump endorsement.”

• With Trump remaining on the sidelines, the candidates continue to “take off [the] gloves” – spending millions attacking each other as the primary remains chaotic and expensive.

And in Pennsylvania:

• In a new profile this week, Bloomberg took a deep dive into David McCormick – “The Bridgewater CEO Who Went Full MAGA” – that exposes him as a political “chameleon” who has “transformed himself faster than Clark Kent in a phone booth into a Trump-touting, China-bashing MAGA acolyte” as he desperately seeks to appease Trump.

• The fight for Trump’s endorsement between Oz and McCormick continues to heat up: McCormick was spotted having lunch at Mar-a-Lago ahead of a meeting with Trump, and Trump praised Oz on a radio show earlier in the week, saying “I do like the man.”

• In an interview this week with the Washington Post, Trump “asked a reporter if he should endorse McCormick or Mehmet Oz and said he would be making a decision in ‘about a week.’”

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