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Good question.

The way I understand it, the endorsement game is not as simple as picking the candidate who is the most honest, the most loyal and who agrees with you the most on the issues. If it was based purely on merit, Kathy Barnett would have gotten the endorsement.

President Trump wants to be perceived as a “kingmaker”, so he needs to build a track record of endorsing candidates who wind up winning.

Sadly, Kathy Barnett is unlikely to win - Oz has far better name recognition - and he has the MD thing going for him in these wacky Covid times.

When the midterms are over, President Trump needs to be able to say “Look, everyone I endorsed won - my endorsement is why they won - I am the undisputed leader of the Republican Party.”

If he endorsed purely based on the merits, and ignored the question of whether a candidate had any chance of winning, his win / loss record would be spotty -and he wouldn’t be able to make that claim.

If he runs in 2024, he will want to be perceived as “kingmaker” - the down-ticket candidates always want someone at the top of the ticket with “coattails” - and this endorsement game is his you convince people you have coattails.

If President Trump picks enough winners in the midterms - he will be swept into the nomination mostly unchallenged.

I know it’s not ideal - but that’s the way politics works.