GOP Summer Of Chaos: Trump’s “Demands For Absolute Loyalty” Escalating Republican Primaries

Three new reports today detail the latest developments in the GOP’s summer of chaos as “Trump’s penchant for intra-party conflict and demands for absolute loyalty” escalate Republican primaries in key battleground states—creating headaches for Republicans who are concerned that the incessant “allegiance and deference to the former president” will hurt their Senate campaigns.

• The Hill reports that despite some Senate Republicans’ best efforts “to put former President Trump in the rearview mirror,” Trump’s “iron grip” makes it “tougher and tougher to keep ignoring him.” Trump is sending warning messages that “Republican candidates who don’t publicly embrace him are setting themselves up for failure in the next election,” worrying national Republicans who believe “it’s not likely to be a winning message in a general election.”

• POLITICO detailed how Trump “loyalists atop state Republican parties are serving as instruments of his political will” creating “the risk of tying the party’s fortunes too closely to an ex-president whose political brand is toxic to many voters.”

• And The Philadelphia Inquirerhighlighted how supporting Trump’s election lies is “a key element of GOP primaries nationally and in Pennsylvania” as candidates use “their loyalty to the lie as a selling point in their bids for higher office.”

See also: National Journal: Republicans suppressing their own voters in Arizona and Georgia; Vice: Trump’s Election Lies Are Taking Over Republican Senate Races; CNN: Republican candidates back Trump’s election lies across the 2021 and 2022 maps; Washington Post: In ramp-up to 2022 midterms, Republican candidates center pitches on Trump’s false election claims; Washington Post: Trump’s endorsements: revenge against enemies, rewards for friends and purveyors of election falsehoods; HuffPost: After Criticizing Trump, GOP Senate Candidates Now Desperate For His Endorsement; Roll Call: Trump could shake up key Senate races with endorsements; National Journal: Trump is sabotaging the GOP’s Senate prospects; Axios: Pro-McConnell PAC prepared to intervene in 2022 primaries; CNN Analysis: Mitch McConnell was asked about Trump and 2022. His answer is hilarious.

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