The verdict is in: Against massive public dissatisfaction with the direction of a country led entirely by Democrats, former President Donald Trump’s Republican Party still scared enough voters that it embarrassingly underperformed in this year’s elections.

The less Trump-like the Republican candidates, the better they did. In Ohio, centrist Gov. Mike DeWine outpolled Trump-selected Senate candidate J.D. Vance by more than 15 points (in their respective races). Trump actively trashed Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, but Kemp won his race easily. Meanwhile, Trump-chosen Senate candidate Herschel Walker, at this writing, is barely hanging on to relevance by his fingernails.