Trump is backing off from endorsing GOP candidates in effort to avoid repeating 2022 disasters: report
CNN reported Wednesday that Donald Trump has been making calls to Republican candidates he won't be supporting.
Despite their backing of him, Trump told Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) he wouldn't ally with them for their election campaigns. The report explained that Trump wants to avoid the catastrophe of the 2022 election in which all but one Republican endorsed by him flopped.
While Mooney has been more supportive of MAGA issues, Trump intends to support Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) in a bid to take out Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a House conservative confirmed to the network.
"The twin developments will be welcome news for GOP leaders, who have been carefully maneuvering for months to try to keep Trump from undermining their efforts to prop up their preferred candidates in the nation’s most pivotal Senate races," CNN reported.
"Their goal: Intervene in GOP primaries to pick candidates they believe can win in the general elections and keep Trump on the same page – all in a bid to avoid the 2022 debacle when Trump-endorsed candidates collapsed in the general election and cemented Democratic control of the Senate."
But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, "There are a lot of ways for this to go south."
Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) said that he speaks with Trump "frequently" and believes Trump wouldn't support anyone other than him. At the same time, Daines is facing off against the Club for Growth, which is angry with the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) chair over his change of the GOP campaign arm. The club wants to double down on conservative fiscal policy, whereas Daines wants to win. The two desires can sometimes be opposed.
“I hope we can continue to change the direction at the NRSC,” Daines said in a speech to the group in March. “It’s not gonna happen in one election cycle, it won’t. But I hope we can demonstrate that if we do apply some principles here – conservative principles, then we indeed can have better outcomes.”
So, the Club "now plans to go head-to-head with the NRSC," the report revealed. It isn't the first time they've gone up against Trump.