Donald WHO ???

The drive-bys are gleeful about the upcoming election.  Things look rough for Republicans nationally and statewide.  But the drive-bys want to make sure you *understand* that any excessive losses are due to our *rude* and *extreme* president.

If you actually take time to talk to disgruntled members of the Republican electorate, you’ll find that there’s no significant hatred of Trump or rebellion against conservatism.  The anger and frustration is based on the fact that The White House AND its allies in Congress have abandoned all of the promises of 2024 and appear to be fiddling while the economy burns.

Here’s The Washington Post gleefully suggesting that GOP candidates across the country are ignoring Trump. If that’s true, it’s wrongheaded.  They ought to be pushing Trump and The White House back toward the recipe that produced so much electoral success in 2016 and 2024.

Here’s NPR in Charlotte pointing out how North Carolina senate candidate Michael Whatley is not invoking Trump’s name as near as much as he used to:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley used to vocally embrace President Trump, who won North Carolina three times.

But at a campaign event Thursday in Gastonia, Whatley barely mentioned him at all.

The contrast was clear in a previous appearance in the same city. A year ago, Whatley kicked off his Senate campaign in Gastonia, and in an 18-minute speech, he mentioned Trump at least 10 times.

“With the complete and total endorsement of President Donald Trump, I am running to be next Senator from the great state of North Carolina,” Whatley said to applause.[….]

Voters are smarter than the drive-bys give them credit for.  They’ve heard TRUMPTRUMPTRUMPTRUMP ad nauseam going on TEN YEARS now.  They want to hear what you’re going to do to enact the agenda we endorsed at the polls in 2016,2020, and 2024. 

Here’s another article pointing out how *Trump’s guy* Michael Whatley went as far as blurring out the presidential seal (and likely cropping out Trump himself) in a photo on the Whatley campaign website.

Check out this audio we obtained of Whatley speaking at a private event recently in New Bern:

“[…]And President Trump right now is a pretty easy target. A lot of people are beating him up, right? They’re saying, “Oh yeah, you know, Whatley, he’s Trump’s guy.” I am, you know, because the alternative is worse, and we got to show that contrast.”
[….]
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.  That’s surprising because Michael Whatley IS where he is right now thanks to Donald Trump. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. 
It would be great to hear Michigan Mike run down the components of the MAGA agenda he’s ready to go fight for.  Instead, we get PAC ads telling us what a bad guy Cooper is, and some extraneous whining about Carolina Journal. 
It’s no secret that this year’s GOP electorate is one of the most uninspired in ages.  The state and national GOP have been running as fast as they can from conservatism – which was key in pushing so many southern states like North Carolina over into the GOP column.  The current party establishment gives us the talk, but NOT the walk.  People are passionately seeking the walk AND the talk. We haven’t seen it in a loooooooooong time.