Trump reasserts dominance over GOP (Romney weeps)

News.yahoo.com ^ | 5/5/22 | Burgess Everett and Olivia Beavers

[cotton1706]

Mitt Romney and Josh Hawley, polar opposites in today’s GOP, agree on one thing: Donald Trump’s status as Republican kingmaker.

After the former president’s endorsement of a former critic rocketed J.D. Vance to the GOP Senate nomination in Ohio, the two senators can’t help but see things the same way. Hawley (R-Mo.), who led Trump-backed election challenges in the Senate last year, observed that “he’s the leader of the party, that’s clear … If he decides to run, he will be the nominee.”

And while Romney twice voted to convict Trump in impeachment trials, speaking out against him more than any other sitting GOP senator, the Utah Republican also concluded that anyone who argues the former president is fading away is not tethered to reality.

“I don’t delude myself into thinking I have a big swath of the Republican Party,” Romney said in a Wednesday interview. “It’s hard to imagine anything that would derail his support. So if he wants to become the nominee in ‘24, I think he’s very likely to achieve that.”

Though Tuesday was just one night in a crowded spring primary calendar, Trump’s romp in Ohio signals that — for all the talk of his waning influence after losing in 2020 and getting impeached for inciting an insurrection — the GOP is still in his thrall. He’s unlikely to topple several sitting governors he’s gone after. But when it comes to federal primaries, Trump far overshadows every other GOP figure, from the establishment to party gadflies, according to interviews with nearly a dozen GOP lawmakers.

[cotton1706]

“Never thought I’d see the day when a politician more despicable than McCain would disgrace the GOP, but this POS has him beat!”

And both were friggin presidential nominees. They FORCED us to vote for these two, with glee.