If Donald J. Trump is trying to cripple his chances to stay in the White House, he could do no better than snub immigration patriots who put him office. This week, he did just that. He endorsed Tommy Tuberville, not his former attorney general Jeff Sessions, in the March 31 GOP Senate primary runoff in Alabama. That sends exactly the wrong message to Trump’s MAGA supporters: He favors phony loyalists over genuine America Firsters. Probably behind the move: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP Establishment. And they’re also trying to cripple three other Trump loyalists: in Kansas, Kris Kobach; in Georgia, Doug Collins; in Arizona, Daniel McCarthy. If Trump endorses these candidates too, he would seriously impair the rebranding of the GOP as a National Conservative party.
Alabama—Sessions vs. Tuberville, March 17
Trump’s endorsing Tuberville is unfortunately all too explicable. The president still holds a petty grudge because Sessions recused himself from the Russia “collusion” probe. Trump apparently doesn’t care that Sessions endorsed him when no one else would, or that Sessions was one of his most effective cabinet members and fully backs the agenda Trump won on in 2016.
Tuberville’s campaign is built around portraying Sessions as a traitor to Trump [‘Traitor Jeff’—New Alabama Senate ad blasts Sessions over Trump, by Sean Ross, Yellowhammer, November 3, 2019]. Yet the former college football coach is no Trump loyalist. He has harshly criticized Trump over his veterans’ policy and blamed the president for the country’s problems with illegal aliens. “He stands for a lot of things, some things I don’t believe in,” Tuberville recently said [Tommy Tuberville in Unearthed Remarks: ‘We’re Paying for Illegals to Come Over Here … That’s Donald Trump’s Fault’, by John Binder, Breitbart, February 17, 2020].
Besides knocking Trump on illegal immigration, Tuberville hired Rob Jesmer, the chief Republican aide to Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration booster group FWD.us, as a campaign consultant.
Tuberville thinks we need immigrant workers, and even worse, he thinks they should get citizenship a.k.a. the vote.
But that, of course, hasn’t stopped him from making anti-immigration noises to sound like Trump. “Folks, [immigrants are] taking over, and if we don’t open our eyes, it is going to be over with,” he said last year [Tuberville warns of immigration threat in speech to North Alabama Republicans, by Jeff Poor, Yellowhammer, June 8, 2019].
Beyond all that, by the way, Tuberville sided with Cultural Marxists on banning the Confederate battle flag from Vaught–Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss when he was head football coach.[Ole Miss Coach to Fans: Lose the Rebel Flag, by Tribune News Service, Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1997].
In other words, Tuberville is no Sessions, who needs no introduction to VDARE readers. No lawmaker is tougher on border control and illegal immigration than Sessions. He led the fight against Amnesty for illegals as a senator, and always pushed to lower legal immigration. Immigration enforcement was a top priority in his Justice Department.
Sessions can be trusted; Tuberville can’t.
Great thing is, despite Trump’s move to Tuberville, Sessions still might win. Significantly, he has just been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.[NRA endorses Jeff Sessions in Senate runoff, by Henry Thornton, Yellowhammer News, March 13, 2020] His campaign released a poll this week that showed him tied with Tuberville in the primary run-off [Sessions, Tuberville tied in Alabama runoff, by Rebecca Klar, The Hill, March 10, 2020]. Remember, Trump Luther Strange in 2017, but Roy Moore survived the blow and crushed Strange for good measure.
Alabamians might well ignore Trump again.
Kansas—Kobach vs. Marshall, August 4
In Kansas, Trump faces a similar choice. Former Secretary of State Kris Kobach is running against U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall in the state’s Senate primary. Trump endorsed Kobach in his losing 2018 gubernatorial race and has considered him for senior roles in the administration. Like Sessions, Kobach supported Trump in the 2016 primary. He’s a committed immigration patriot who has dedicated most of his political career to combatting mass immigration. Unlike Sessions, he did not commit any grievous sin against Trump.
But that apparently means nothing to GOP elites, who hate Kobach because he’s too outspoken on immigration. The National Republican Senate Committee even condemned his campaign:
“Just last year Kris Kobach ran and lost to a Democrat. Now, he wants to do the same and simultaneously put President Trump’s presidency and Senate Majority at risk. We know Kansans won’t let that happen and we look forward to watching the Republican candidate they do choose win next fall,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said in July after Kobach’s Senate campaign launch.
[Kobach says he discussed his Senate bid with Trump, by Tal Axelrod, The Hill, February 15, 2020]
But here’s what party hacks forget: Kobach has won two statewide races in Kansas and only lost in 2018 thanks to that year’s blue wave and the unpopularity of the previous Republican governor [Sam Brownback of Kansas has been dethroned as the nation’s least popular governor, by Hunter Woodall, The Kansas City Star, April 11, 2017].
Even worse, in 2017, his opponent Marshall has opposed Trump’s agenda of building a border wall, reducing immigration, and aggressively deporting illegals. He claimed we needed cheap foreign labor [Congressman breaks with Trump on border wall, young immigrants, by Dion Lefler, The Wichita Eagle, June 2, 2017].
As well, the polls show Kobach as the clear frontrunner with a double-digit lead over Marshall in two surveys. And a February survey released by Kobach’s campaign gives him a 9-point lead over his likely Democratic competitor, Barbara Bollier [Kobach vs. Bollier: Competing polls test potential Senate race matchup in Kansas, by Bryan Lowry, The Kansas City Star, February 14, 2020]
No matter, McConnell and his gang are pressing Trump to endorse Marshall. Trump almost did so in January, but backed out of it after a phone call with Kobach [Trump tried to call Kris Kobach during his meeting with Roger Marshall, sources say, by Bryan Lowry, Michael Wilner and Jonathan Shorman, The Kansas City Star, January 17, 2020].
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean Trump won’t listen to the GOP Establishment that hates him and endorse Marshall, who is arguably worse than Tuberville.
Bottom line in Kansas? Endorsing Marshall could change the race, but if Trump would just stay out of it, or better, endorse Kobach, he’ll likely win and have a good shot at defeating the Democrat on November 3.
Of course, that means McConnell and his Donor Class friends would have to deal with an immigration patriot in the Senate.
Georgia—Special Election, November 3
On November 3, Georgians will vote on both U.S. Senate seats. One is occupied by David Perdue, who rates a career B+ from Numbers USA and faces no primary opposition. The other is occupied by Kelly Loeffler thanks to the resignation of Johnny Isakson last year. She goes before voters in a special election, not preceded by a primary, to fill the remaining two years of his term. Four Democrats are running, including Matt Lieberman, the son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
But it’s still another test for Trump: Rep. Doug Collins is running, too.
Trump wanted Gov. Brian Kemp to appoint Collins when Isakson quit. But Kemp instead picked Loeffler, a businesswoman with no political record. Trump didn’t like the choice, but many of his associates, and of course, Stupid Party HQ, decided Loeffler was the better candidate. And she still is, they think.
Trump’s former envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and other establishment figures are backing her and smearing Collins’ run as a gift to the Democrats. “All he has done is put two senate seats, multiple house seats, and Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in play,” NRSC executive director Kevin McLaughlin said in January [Senate GOP campaign arm rips Collins as selfish for entering Georgia race, by Rebecca Klar, The Hill, January 29, 2020].
The scorched-earth campaign against Collins is, to say the least, puzzling … and counterproductive. Trump likes him, he’s one of Trump’s closest allies in the House and he led the president’s defense against impeachment [Top Trump ally in House announces Senate bid, by Alex Rogers, CNN, January 29, 2020].
And Collins is solid on immigration. He has a A career rating from NumbersUSA and was one of the few Republicans to vote against the Indian Green Card giveaway known as the “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act.” Granted, he isn’t Jeff Sessions. But he will oppose Amnesty and support sensible reforms.
Loeffler, on the other hand, is something of a cipher. She’s a businesswoman who co-owns a basketball team in the very liberal WNBA. A few reputable sources claim she can be trusted on immigration and other conservative issues. “[Loeffler]’s a proponent of the second amendment. She was very tough on illegal immigration. So she would check some of those boxes with the president,” Phil Kent, an adviser to ProEnglish, told local media last year [Who Is Kelly Loeffler, Rumored A Likely Senate Pick?, by Emma Hurt, WABE, November 27, 2019]. She’s presented herself as a Trump backer and attacked Mitt Romney for supporting impeachment [Trump thanks Loeffler for ‘downright nasty and mean’ support during impeachment, by Jonathan Raymond, 11ALIVE, February 6, 2020].
All true, perhaps, but she did vote for an appropriations bill that would have boosted H-2B visas. Perhaps her F- rating from Numbers USA is unfair because it measures that one vote, but there you have it.
At least Collins has a record that America First voters can measure.
Like the other Establishment hacks, Loeffler knows she must present herself as a Trump loyalist to win.
Question is, has Trump changed his mind on Collins even though he wanted him to replace Isakson.
My guess: Trump stays out of it. I hope!
Arizona—GOP Primary, August 4
But Trump didn’t stay out of the GOP Primary in Arizona, and once again endorsed the GOP establishment choice, incumbent Martha McSally. She lost to Kyrsten Sinema in 2018, but Gov. Doug Doucey appointed her to fill the seat of Sen. John McCain after he died and his successor Jon Kyl, a temporary caretaker, resigned. Now, she has to win that seat to finish McCain’s term.
Faced with a challenge from Trump backer Daniel McCarthy in the August 4 primary, she quickly appealed for help to the McConnell Mafia, Trump himself and then Vice President Mike Pence. The GOP’s oppo research machine whirred to life and party chairman Ronna McDaniel told him to drop out of the race [Martha McSally moves to head off GOP primary challenge, by Alex Isenstadt, Politico, June 25, 2019].
McCarthy, as Isenstadt reported, “helped bankroll Trump’s 2016 campaign,” but that didn’t matter. Trump struck again, leaving another backer out in the cold when he “abruptly tweeted out an endorsement for McSally.”
Perhaps McCarthy isn’t ideal. Though he strongly backs a border wall, he floated the idea of annexing Mexico, then retracted it as a “joke” [GOP Senate candidate walks back comments on annexing Mexico, by Daniel Welch, AZFamily.com, Sept. 20, 2019].
But McSally’s no bargain, either. She supports a wall, too, yet rates just a C+ from Numbers USA and favors importing foreign labor to compete with American workers. Besides that, polls show her losing to Gulf War combat veteran and astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabrille Giffords [Kelly leads McSally by 7 points in Arizona Senate poll, by Reid Wilson, The Hill, March 11, 2020].
Long-term, bad endorsements not only harm Trump’s agenda, for obvious reasons but also undermine his re-election effort. Trump can’t put America First without true America Firsters and immigration patriots in the Senate. And he certainly can’t put America First if he’s not in the White House.
In 2016, Trump defied the GOP elites and championed the same things as Sessions, Kobach, and Collins. That national populism is still the key not only to victory on November 3 but also the GOP’s future success and restoring the Historic American Nation.
