What does Endorsement Season mean to me?
Be prepared to endure some real misdirection between now and November
As we near the beginning of the early Republican primaries that will clear the way for the head-to-head matchups that we’ll see on the ballots come November, it’s becoming evidentially clear that we are now in the midst of Endorsement Season. With CPAC 2022 just a few weeks away; where the “who’s who in the Republican Party will rub elbows with all the hottest candidates, major influencers, donors and party supporters in an attempt to pick up steam (and the ability to raise a lot more money) before heading back to the campaign trail.
Just in the past few weeks we have seen some endorsements flung around that could really cause a person to scratch their head. Granted, in years past we have seen blessings bestowed by the kingmaker of the party, Donald Trump that have been equal parts: confusing and counterproductive to both upholding the continuance of Trump-era policies and the overall America First movement. More often than not, President Trump is given a free pass; mainly because of the large network of insulation that he has padded himself and Trumpworld with, following the lessons learned from four years of operation inside the Beltway. It’s unfortunate that some of this insulation bares the trademarking of the swamp and the D.C. establishment and it’s glaringly apparent via some of the recent moves out of Trumpworld.
Which allows us to circle back to just a few weeks ago, when out of nowhere, Liz Harrington (spokeswoman for Trumpworld) issued through a tweet the announcement that President Trump was in support of, and fully endorsing the (still un-initiated) campaign of former U.S. State Department official (red flag) Morgan Ortagus in Tennessee’s 5th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. In most normal, midterm election seasons, this wouldn’t seem like too big a political miscalculation granted the America First movement is only entering its second major election-cycle push for legitimacy with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket as the dominating force of the GOP (sorry, Ronna).
However, how does such an endorsement seem to come from so far out of left field when one the strongest and most America First candidates running, Robby Starbuck has shown both promise and star power in the party for quite some time now. Starbuck who, took a step back from Hollywood and the music industry after being one of the first entertainment influencers to openly support President Trump to enter the political realm himself has in the past two plus years, made a considerable name for himself as one of the strongest grassroots players in the game for the 2022 midterm elections (speaking at the last two CPACs and strongly advocating on behalf of the 45th President). And with so many other, vulnerable House Seats still in contention across the nation, what sense did it make to want to implant a familiar (albeit swampy) face like Ortagus in a district where, if a candidate like Starbuck can get over the finish line and claim the House seat in TN-5 it would set a new standard, raise the bar for future candidates even higher and continue to further legitimize the America First political movement. Even more so with the endorsements Starbuck has garnered from heavy hitters inside the movement like: Ric Grennel, Candice Owens, Charlie Kirk, Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Guliani and Rand Paul continues to decrease the visibility that is the fog of war we’re all wading through during this, the endorsement season.
Current Florida State Representative, and longtime advocate of the America First platform who is running to represent FL-7 in the House for the midterm elections, Anthony Sabatini, ran into the same kind of “minor incursion” this weekend ahead of the CPAC 2022 summit later this month. Sabatini, who is openly to the right of Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, is constantly airing his concerns and grievances with his fellow legislators in Florida, for not promoting, passing and adhering to real America First principles; calling out the RINOs and making life difficult for his progressive, democrat counterparts; all things that essentially do help make America (and Florida) great again.
Some of the heaviest hitters in the movement, the Gaetz’s, the Gosar’s, the Taylor-Greene’s, the Cawthorn’s and the Rand Paul’s of the world have all rewarded Sabatini with their blessings in return of his hard work and focus on steering the party in its new direction. And while it would appear that a Trump endorsement for the strongest promoter of Trump-era polices was all but imminent, here we sit less than 10 months away from the midterm elections, and after six visits (for events) to Mar-a-Lago we still don’t see a public nod from the big guy in the form of an endorsement via those Liz Harrington tweets we have all come to know and love.
The failed 2020 Senate re-election campaign of obvious establishment RINO, but closet Trump confidant, David Perdue was the cherry on top of what ended the 2020 election cycle. Perdue’s loss solidified the democrats’ control (VP Harris) of the U.S. Senate and his utter lack of favorability was most likely the largest contributing factor to his failure to resonate with blue collar Georgia voters. In what was probably a more shocking announcement than the recent Starbuck snub, came in the Dec. 6th an announcement from Donald Trump endorsing Perdue as primary challenger to troubled Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp (who in a past life, was also endorsed by Trump). Even after the debacle that saw almost $100 million dollars wasted (not on stopping the steal) on now senator John Ossoff (D-GA), Donald Trump announced that he was all-in (again) on Perdue, and reiterated his hunch that Perdue, and only Perdue could stand up in the face of and defeat the Princess of all thing’s election integrity-related, Stacy Abrams in the fall.
Whether or not that maybe be true, what does it means for the America First movement? Well before Perdue entered the race and secured Trump’s endorsement in December, it was Vernon Jones who has (self-proclaimedly) picked up the torch for team Save America and was running on a pro-MAGA platform. Where does this leave the outspoken and often problematic candidate for who so many years stood up to the establishment and championed the platform of the Trump agenda? Don’t worry, we’re almost there.
The same can be said with the Trump endorsement of Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, who, let’s be honest, has always wheeled in at the last moment and after shit has repeatedly hit the fan to save face and say the right things at reiterate his “loyalty” to the President, therefore has continued to keep him in his good graces. Consider the fact also that without the most outstanding AG in the country, Ken Paxton, Governor Abbott wouldn’t have a leg to stand on and wouldn’t be enjoying such a lead in polls against either one of his primary challengers, the self-made businessman Don Huffines and former FL representative Col. Allen West.
Thankfully I can sum up the Trump endorsement of Harriet Hageman over incumbant Liz Cheney as “better than solid” in 1500 words or less (laughs in military industrial complex).
If you feel an eye headache coming on, don’t fret, it’s only 10 months til the midterms and by that time we’ll be in full-on 2024 general election mode (whew). To the casual follower of politics, these instances seem minuscule and insignificant in the big scheme of things because at the end of the day Trump is the leader and the face of the GOP and the America First movement who, wants to Make America Great Again (again) and should know better, especially after the wringer that they all put Trump, his family (not Jared Kushner) and his administration through for four years, right? Not so fast. At work right now, from both sides of the isle and through every corporate outlet, the media and big tech entity (don’t forget those labor unions) the forces of evil, the establishment and the administrative state are working overtime to ensure than this movement dies on the hill that is the 2022 midterm elections.
So how can we better understand, breakdown and analyze just how these glaring instances of not-MAGA are occurring? Well, let’s begin by taking a looking into just what (more specifically) who is at work here and what (to them) is at stake.
The Robby Starbuck scenario is probably best described as an instance of, “the Deep State gonna Deep State.” After being appointed spokesman for the Pompeo State Department in 2019, Ortagus was described by the Washington Post as, the woman who “bridges the GOP establishment and Trumpworld.” Now if that doesn’t terrify you, I’m not sure what would. In this America First movement, the fresh, innovative and grassroots candidates running to take back the House and Senate are a new breed of non-establishment and non-traditional GOP contenders like we’ve never seen before. For every Greitens, Laxalt, and Mastriano (all seasoned veterans) out there, you’ve got a Blake Masters, Josh Mandel and Kari Lake as a rising star compliment. But to try and insert a Pompeo (who at the end of the day, said a lot of the right things, and did a few of the right things, never really, really bought into Making America Great Again) plant into a district where someone like Starbuck has embraced the movement and the moment has embraced him back, serves as nothing short of a slap in the face. Although I don’t know what part of the equation makes up Morgan Ortagus and TN-5 but I do know after careful review that it stems from a long line of (swampy) bullshit intel. I drew that conclusion after watching Rob Schmitt lob softballs at President Trump last week in an NewsMax interview down at Mar-a-Lago. When pressed on Ortagus v. Starbuck Trump seemed ill informed and answered with a deflection stating, that he “had heard that Starbuck once voted for Obama” (also false). So, who is feeding Donald Trump this line of garbage and why? Don’t worry we’re getting there.
The Sabatini situation is a little clearer cut and precise, so we won’t have to unpack as much for clarity purposes as let’s say the Starbuck situation. At the end of the day, Anthony Sabatini is beloved, nationally and especially in the state of Florida. With every newspaper hit piece and false accusation that’s created about him, Sabatini is pressing to promote and pass legislation that not only personifies America First, but it also aligns and identifies with the Constitution.
Money (of course) plays a huge role in a candidate’s success, both statewide and in their congressional districts that can pay off big time at the national level. In the game of endorsements and in the midst of endorsement season, money can’t buy you love, but it sure can buy you an endorsement. None less great than from the 45th President of the United States, compete with a campaign event down at the Mar-a-Lago resort which will vault you into the national spotlight and bless you with appearances on all the cable news programs like the boomer sweat inducing Sean Hannity show to the most popular MAGA podcasts out there like the Steak for Breakfast Podcast and Steve Bannon’s War Room.
The fact of the matter is, Sabatini won’t pay for his endorsement and in my opinion, he’s a lot better off for not doing so. He and his wife have attended several of the events at Mar-a-Lago, he’s known, appreciated and loved within the party and is primed to really take a run at the deep state once he’s in D.C. next year. An example came to light after it was revealed recently that a sum of money somewhere around $20,000 exchanged hands between establishment candidate from AZ running for the Senate, Jim Lamon and Matt Schlapp (the former Whitehouse political director) who chairs CPAC. Pretty interesting to see Schlapp endorse primary challenger to Sabatini, Cory Mills ahead of CPAC in what may turn out to be a little bit of the same instance as we’re seeing with Lamon in AZ (see where this is going yet?). Last time I checked polls showed Sabatini maintained a more than 3:1 advantage in the FL-7 Republican primary. If it’s going to take real candidates like Sabatini and Arizona Senate contender Blake Masters (who are the clear favorites) to not pay-to-play for endorsements to expose the whole process, therefore rendering it moot? Or maybe it’s just another baseless conspiracy theory…
Now the David Perdue angle to me seems pretty cut and dry. After a term and a half in the Senate, and regardless of his favorability, Perdue has a fairly strong hold on a lot of the groundwork needed to run a successful statewide campaign in GA and against Stacy Abrams. With all the money needed and the lack of time (remember we’re voting here in approx. 10 months), it just seems like the Trump blessing is coming at a gamble but also a cost saving measure to the Save America war chest. However, the ripple effect from this endorsement and the island that it has put Vernon Jones on now throws and even bigger wrench into the Peach State equation that we all swore didn’t turn blue in 2020.
Small business owner and America First candidate, Mike Collins has jumped out to an impressive lead in the Republican primary for the GA-10 House seat. Feeling disenfranchised and after some leaked discussions we’re hearing that the powers that be are going to lay a Trump endorsement on Vernon Jones to step down from his bid for the governorship to run (I know) in GA-10. Regardless of what’s going on behind closed doors and similar to the Starbuck situation, Donald Trump is being fed a line of information that is contrary to the actuality of the situation on the ground in Georgia, and by clearing the path for Perdue in a (let’s be honest 50/50 race at best) head to head matchup with Abrams can in turn, muddy the waters in a GA-10 race where Mike Collins is looking to take a belt to the backside of the beltway after the midterms.
The Greg Abbott debacle is what it is at face value. You can’t take away from the fact that Greg Abbott promotes (only by stating) and upholds (after it’s turned into a dumpster fire) a lot of the strong points (selectively plucked) from Trump-era policies. By grifting off of Ken Paxton and his lawsuits, Abbott has been able to keep Texas reddish and in that, one can only hope that this will be his last run for Governor in the Lone Star state.
So, what does endorsement season mean to me? After working as the producer of and as one of the three hosts of the Steak for Breakfast Podcast now for a little over two years, not much. We as a nation are seeing the last, dying moments of the establishment GOP, it’s leadership and many of the administrative state entities that keep them in power. The Mitch McConnell’s, Lindsey Grahams, Kevin McCarthys, Ronna McDaniel’s and Matt Schapp’s of the world are in fact a dying breed who see their world (and wealth) being transferred back to the people. An overwhelming majority of the rest of the ghouls that make up the Republican establishment are either dead, retiring or being forced out by this movement. In these moments they are afraid to lose what they thought would be a never-ending grasp on power and influence in the party and amongst their special interests. Albeit confusing at times, we as the base of the America First movement must continue to call and support these instances where President Trump makes a not so productive call or endorses someone who at the end of the day seeks to slow the movement back to a crawl as was the case from 2016-2020.
There can be no redo. There can be no picking up where we left off. There can be no getting our feet wet again and hoping for the best. By knowing that Donald Trump is in fact going to make a third run at the White House in 2024 should reinvigorate everyone in this movement to the fullest extent but at the same time terrify you as well. If we don’t get our sights all aligned and really bring this red wave home in the 2022 midterms, we will be setting ourselves up to relive the same disappointments and eventual failure that we experienced following the rigged and stolen presidential election of 2020.
Don’t put too much thought into about who is getting endorsed and don’t worry about who’s endorsing them. You can derive from good judgment and a decent moral compass that when the endorsements do come, you can determine why candidates are getting them and what it means to the big picture. Aside from that, stop giving money to the GOP as a whole and stop supporting nationally-platformed Republican events. As a matter of fact, stop supporting the party on a broad spectrum altogether because that’s only gotten us to where we are at now and in retrospect, how’s that working out for all of us? Find the candidates whom you best identify with, and financially support them and their campaigns so that after the midterm elections are over and when they get to D.C., they can actually do the job that they were hired to do (imagine that), both for the people and by the people.