Two states (OH, IN) held primaries yesterday and candidates endorsed by former President Trump did quite well. Candidates who pushed the populist/nationalist agenda Trump initiated but spoke less glowingly about him did less well, and those who spoke more or less against him did least well. What very preliminary conclusions should we draw from this first peek at voter attitudes?
Most Republican voters have signed onto the Trump agenda of nationalism including semi-autarky, populism, border control, and social conservatism. And they remember with gratitude it was Donald J. Trump who pushed these issues when most establishment Republicans did not. So his endorsement is the GOP version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval ©, it means a lot.
Long time Republicans who now push the Trump program, without much mentioning Trump, are suspect because it is a near-certainty they once held other, conflicting views which they are suspected of privately holding still. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are thus categorized by many Trump supporters, perhaps to some degree unfairly.
Interestingly, more recent arrivals on the national GOP scene like Gov. DeSantis seem to get away with treating the current Republican agenda as a "given" or starting point as though it was always what it is now. Their lack of "history" may actually be an advantage.
Then there is the third group, the unregenerate old guard establishment Republicans typified by George W. Bush and his supporters and hangers-on like Romney and the Cheneys - father and daughter. They are the internationalist, free market, big business types who would have felt comfortable at Davos, even if they never attended. Absent very unusual local circumstances, these individuals aren't going to win many primaries in today's GOP.
