Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel plans on challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker in the Republican primary. But President Trump apparently plans on keeping him out of the Senate. With one tweet, Trump just dumped a big-old bucket of ice water on the insurgent Republican:
.@SenatorWicker of Mississippi has been a great supporter and incredible help in getting our massive Tax Cut Bill done and approved. Also big help on cutting regs. I am with him in his re-election all the way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2018
Adding insult to injury, the endorsement comes the night before McDaniel is launching his campaign.
But why would the president meddle in a primary down south? Why would that president even care which Republican sits in a Senate seat that Democrats haven’t held for thirty years, literally since Ronald Reagan was in the White House?
Personal loyalty.
To be sure, Trump doesn’t want to lose an ally in the Senate. Wicker votes with him something like 97 percent of the time. An early endorsement will do a lot to inoculate the incumbent from an assault. Remember, Trump won the Republican primary and then the general election, both by double digits.
Given the timing and given the history, though, this seems especially personal. Trump and McDaniel know each other because Trump endorsed McDaniel when he challenged incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014.
I hope voters in Mississippi cast their ballot for @senatormcdaniel. He is strong, he is smart & he wants things to change in Washington.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2014
McDaniel lost that primary, but he wouldn’t lose Trump’s support until much later. That may have come two days after Trump won the Mississippi Republican primary, when McDaniel criticized the candidate.
“Is he angry? Yeah. Is he a great business guy? Debatable. Is he a constitutional conservative? Absolutely not. You cannot hold positions, the ones he still maintains,” McDaniel said in a Facebook town hall. “You cannot hold those three positions and be a constitutional conservative.”
That kind of criticism would certainly irk a president with famously thin skin. It’s the kind of thing that would convince Trump to meddle in a race of little consequence, one that Republicans have little to no chance of losing.
