President Trump struck gold in 2016 when hit on the idea of running as a populist, tapping into a long-ignored sentiment shared by millions of voters.
Now, several outside political groups and Republican office-seekers want a piece of the action, and they see clinging to the president as their one-way ticket to victory.
Call it the “Trumpification” of the GOP, where Republican campaign ads and stump speeches market fealty to the president as an actual qualification for higher office. It might seem crazy, based on Trump’s unimpressive approval rating, but it’s more understandable when you realize how popular he is in some specific states and regions where key races are being run this year.
It’s not that these Trump-embracing candidates and political organizations, including the Club for Growth, necessarily agree with Trump and his agenda. They don’t even necessarily like him. It’s that they want some of what he unlocked in the election.
True, Republican candidates have been gravitating in this direction for several months. But we can expect to see much more of this sort of thing in the immediate future now that the midterms are fast approaching and Trump’s approval numbers are ticking up slowly.
Embracing the president “has been a central theme of a lot of these Republican primaries,” Roll Call senior political reporter Bridget Bowman said this month. “Candidates [are saying], ‘I will be the strongest ally for President Trump.’ That’s in part because the president is still really popular in a number of [battleground states].”
She’s not wrong about candidates positioning themselves as Trump’s best supporter. Flip through any random GOP campaign ad or Republican interview, and chances are you’ll encounter a line wherein the candidate guarantees he or she will be the kindest, warmest, bravest, most wonderful ally Trump has ever known in his life.
In Texas, for example, the Club for Growth has hit the market hard with radio and digital ads decrying certain candidates for being insufficiently supportive of Trump, the Texas Tribune reported.
In an ad backing candidate Michael Cloud over Bech Bruun, voters are told, “No way will Bruun stand with Trump to change things in Washington.”
Another ad weighing in on the fight between Texas State Rep. Lance Gooden and Bunni Pounds asks, “Want a congressman who will back Trump? That’s not Lance Gooden.”
A third ad says “Trump needs” congressional candidate Michael Cloud.
Yet another ad, this one in support of congressional candidate Chip Roy over his rival, Matt McCall, says simply, “Our president shouldn’t have to stand alone.”
In Ohio, Lt. Gov. Mary Taloy, who is running for governor, told Fox News recently, “we in Ohio, we support – I support President Trump. Build the wall, secure our borders.”
Then there’s Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., who appeared in an ad recently wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and promising viewers that he will, “proudly stand with the president and Mike Pence to drain the swamp.”
Even failed West Virginia Senate Republican candidate Don Blankenship, clung to the Trump name, even as Trump was disparaging him and backing his opponents.
“As some have said I am Trumpier than Trump,” Blankenship said in a statement released before he went on to take only 19.9 percent of the total vote in last week’s GOP primary. He added, “The President is a very busy man and he doesn’t know me … The establishment is misinforming him because they do not want me to be in the U.S. Senate and promote the President’s agenda.”
It may not be true of all Republican candidates, but some are most certainly betting that bear-hugging Trump will put them over the finish line. Nothing captures that coattail-riding spirit better than a candidate claiming to be “Trumpier than Trump.”
