I generally like your thoughts, but this is nonsense. Gillispie wasn’t a full-throated Trumper, but since there is no real Trump “agenda,” I don’t know what being a full-throated Trumper is.
We are in a position where Trump can endorse a candidate (Strange) and see that candidate lose and it’s a victory for Trump because the guy he lost to is Trumpier than the guy Trump endorsed.
Trumpism is not about policies, because aside from the wall, there are no policy positions. It’s about attitude. And no one can speak and act the way Trump speaks and acts, because the public seems to only accept that type of performance in Trump himself.
Also, the Dems wiping out the Repubs in the House of Delegates had nothing to do with Trump. A transgendered person beat the man who introduced Virginia’s bathroom bill. The issue there was not Trump.
Also, keep in mind that I was responding to a poster who suggested that "Trump wasn't being helpful" in the aftermath of Gillespie's loss.
All politics aside, I think it would be wise for a state political party to adopt a strategy of throwing a candidate into the garbage dumpster after he or she loses a statewide election. Ed Gillespie didn't become any more electable since 2014 when he lost his U.S. Senate race.