Trump’s triumph over Massie
The president on Tuesday notched another win against a Republican rival with the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie in the Kentucky primary — the most expensive primary in U.S. history, at more than $32 million.
This win “perhaps sends an even more forceful message to the president’s Republican critics. Massie was entrenched in his deep-red Kentucky district,” says The Associated Press.
But “Massie will remain in Congress until his term ends in January, and without a Republican primary on the horizon, he now has a freer hand than ever to antagonize Trump,” notes AP.
As Massie said puckishly in his concession speech, “I’ve got seven months left in Congress.”
What’s happened in Kentucky presents a quandary for Republicans facing difficult re-election campaigns in November, says The Wall Street Journal.
Some of them would like to move to the political center to appeal to independent voters. House Republicans running in tossup districts in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia could suffer in November from being too closely aligned with Trump, with his poor approval ratings and the backlash over the war in Iran and rising gasoline prices.
“With costs rising for average Americans because of Trump’s policies like tariffs and the Iran war, Trump is going to be an anchor around the necks of Republicans fighting in tough races,” says Sarah Longwell, a Trump critic and GOP consultant who conducts focus groups with voters.
Note to readers
I’m going to take time off around the Memorial Day holiday and will be with you next on Wednesday, May 27. I’ll be pursuing what Buddhist psychologist and author Tara Brach teaches: “Joy and love undermine authoritarianism.”
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