This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 26 episode of “All In with Chris Hayes.”
If there is one thing that President Donald Trump and Democratic candidates in the midterms can agree on, it is that the upcoming elections should be a referendum on one question: Do you like Trump?
For Democrats, the logic here is pretty straightforward: The guy is among the least popular presidents in modern history, hitting record-low approval ratings; his favorability ratings on everything from the cost of living to immigration are underwater; and so it makes sense that Democrats would want voters to think about the president at the ballot box.
It is less obvious why making the midterms about Trump would be beneficial for Republicans, though — except, of course, for the fact that the president is an egomaniac who demands everything be about him.
Look no further than the unprecedented midterm party convention Republicans are set to hold in Texas next month.
Trump is going to tie himself at the hip to every single candidate who appears and there will be absolutely no way to avoid him.
Now, maybe this isn’t the worst idea in the world. Texas is a very red state where a bunch of Democrats are polling competitively in key races. And so you could see an argument that a convention like this could be an excuse to help raise funds and bring some attention to some vulnerable Republicans there.
But obviously that is not what is going to happen. Trump’s just going to make it all about himself. He’s already announced he will be speaking on both nights of the convention.
He is going to tie himself at the hip to every single candidate who appears, and there will be absolutely no way to avoid him. As one anonymous Republican strategist told Puck, “Nobody understands why we’re doing a midterm convention. It’s just another show that Trump is going to put on to remind the voters that he is sitting there, and maybe they don’t want to be reminded of that.”
But here’s the best part: Trump is expecting Republicans to pay for the privilege. Puck spoke to three people who reviewed the invitations who said the National Republican Congressional Committee is telling House candidates they need to cough up $25,000 for an invite to “the greatest rally of them all.” And that is for the cheap seats. The so-called higher-tier package is reportedly going to run candidates $100,000.
Where’s that money going? Who knows, but it won’t be into the coffers of these candidates anymore.
You better believe there will be corporate sponsors, as well. As another anonymous Republican strategist told Puck, that might actually be the whole ballgame, remarking it would be “yet another opportunity to shake down corporate America.”
If there is a silver lining for Republicans, it is that no one is likely to actually watch this thing. Networks have struggled to get viewers to tune into the conventions during presidential years. It is likely to be that much harder to get them to pay attention for the midterms.
Trump’s party will also be counterprogramming against the opening two nights of the regular NFL season. And the convention is being held in the two days leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks (which is maybe a slightly strange time to be throwing a big party).
Of course, all of this does make a perverse kind of sense when you remember Trump isn’t actually interested in winning elections. He would rather steal them — whether through his executive order power grab, or an attempted coup or some kind of bogus national emergency for elections.
At least one Trump-aligned candidate is already playing this game. Mike Lindell, the former CEO of MyPillow, who lost in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary earlier this month, has repeatedly refused to concede and has called for a statewide hand recount (he recently missed the filing deadline to make a recount happen).
No serious Republicans actually believe that shadowy figures rigged a primary in Minnesota, where the winning candidate is quite likely to get clobbered by Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the ballpark of double digits come November. But then again, I don’t think any serious Republican actually thinks 2020 was stolen, either. They just pretend to — a kind of vice-signaling to please the boss.
So the president’s threats to legitimate elections are actually serious. And it becomes all the more serious when the stakes are much higher in November.
Just for the sake of argument, imagine a world where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico wins Texas by 10,000 votes (a scenario, by the way, that seems perfectly plausible, based on the current state of the race). Do you think Republicans are just going to throw their hands up and accept defeat? Or will they fight tooth and nail to overturn the results of a free and fair election as they did six years ago?
Because a party that does not try to win elections is a party that thinks it can steal them.
Allison Detzel contributed.
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