Disbelief as Trump tries to torpedo high-stakes GOP primary: 'Sure, why have people vote?'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Trump's endorsement isn't nearly as potent as he likes to pretend

The president keeps insisting that his endorsements automatically dictate the results of elections, but reality keeps telling a very different story.

Trump keeps insisting that his endorsements automatically dictate the results of elections, especially in Republican primaries.

And reality keeps telling a very different story.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-04T21:32:23.821Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-endorsement-isnt-nearly-as-potent-as-he-likes-to-pretend

The day after a series of closely watched elections in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas, Donald Trump published a seemingly endless series of items to his social media platform, highlighting candidates who won primaries after receiving presidential endorsements. It led him to conclude: “My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas!”

As it happens, the words “virtually” and “almost” were doing a lot of work in those sentences. The Texas Tribune noted that the president’s backing “isn’t a silver bullet.” From the report:

Trump handed out his endorsement generously ahead of the primary, backing over 130 incumbents and candidates for the Texas Legislature, Congress and statewide office.

While most of his endorsed candidates won their primaries outright Tuesday night, a major one — Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — was poised to lose reelection. And at least three Trump-endorsed candidates for Congress were headed to runoffs, one of them in a distant second place.

While not a wholesale rejection of Trump’s influence, the results showed that his endorsement cannot solve all a candidate’s problems.

.....The problem, of course, is that plenty of Trump-backed GOP candidates have fallen short, including in Republican primaries, whether the president can think of them or not.

To be sure, most of the Texas Republicans who received Trump endorsements fared well on Tuesday, but many of them ran literally or effectively unopposed, allowing the president to pad his totals. Some, however, either lost or are poised to lose, despite his public support......

Except, as we’ve seen many times, that’s not true — which should send a message to Republicans everywhere about the need, or lack thereof, to kiss his ring.

GOP officials and candidates are supposed to tremble in fear at the very idea of losing favor with him because his all-powerful endorsement is the key to unlocking electoral success. It’s the kind of thinking that keeps congressional Republicans in line, too afraid of what he’ll do to their careers if they dare to defy him.

But what the party needs to understand is that the myth isn’t true, no matter how many times he pretends otherwise. The more GOP officials and candidates acknowledge that reality, the less they’ll feel the need to sacrifice their dignity to satisfy Trump’s whims.