Republicans can't rest on their laurels when Trump isn't on the ballot

Success breeds imitation, and so it was inevitable that the 2018 election cycle would be packed to the gills with candidates trying to run the Trump playbook. Having stunned the world by breaking virtually every rule of traditional political campaigning, the election of Donald Trump to the highest office in the land emboldened more and more Republicans to try to adopt the tone, tenor, and tactics of Trump as they ran for their own offices. From Roy Moore receiving the blessing of Steve Bannon, to Ed Gillespie’s Virginia campaign that looked far more Trump-esque than his previous statewide efforts, candidates on the Right have been eager to wrap themselves in the trappings of Trumpsim.

But only Trump is Trump.