President Donald Trump flexed the strength of his party-transforming political movement again Tuesday, continuing the successful process of eliminating political enemies within the GOP this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Trump\u2019s low approval ratings and the war with Iran have raised red flags in key Republican primaries among base voters who supported his \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda that included the idea of a focus on domestic issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those red flags may persist with independent voters and base turnout alike when the general election gets underway in a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the meantime, Trump continues to prove he can not only influence the Republican primary electorate but also attack Republicans who have opposed him in any way without feeling there are significant negative consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think what everyone can take away from this is that Donald Trump is going nowhere,\u201d said a Trump adviser working for his political operation. \u201cHe has won and will continue to win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump this month defeated five Republican state senators in Indiana who opposed his push for mid-decade redistricting. Over the weekend, his political machine also blocked Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict him in his 2021 impeachment trial, from advancing in his primary in Louisiana, a state he has represented for two terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest and most exciting win for the White House, though, came Tuesday: defeating Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who opposed Trump on key issues, including on the \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d tax and spending plan and on pushing for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie lost to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, who got 54% of the GOP primary vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For months, Trump and his allies have attacked Massie, and they got their win Tuesday in the most expensive House primary in history in terms of ad spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThomas Massie is just the latest proof that being Democrats\u2019 favorite Republican is not a badge of honor in our party,\u201d James Blair, a former Trump administration official who now runs Trump\u2019s political operation, told NBC News. \u201cGoodbye and good luck with the cows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview last month, Massie noted that, except for Cassidy in the Senate, he was one of few Republicans in Washington willing to cross Trump on principle and policy, even as he also usually voted with him on most issues. Massie added that the results of his race would determine how many more might follow his lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere can always be this cascading effect,\u201d Massie said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big herd. The herd moves as a herd, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie\u2019s loss was met with disappointment in other corners of the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened tonight is sad, to be honest,\u201d said a veteran Republican strategist who has worked \u201cwith both the liberty and MAGA\u201d movements and was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the Trump-fueled intraparty clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was a revenge tour on a solid conservative vote who refused to break to the will of Trump,\u201d the person said. \u201cThomas Massie refused to be compromised. He refused to bend the knee, and for that he was taken out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, however, did not outright win everything he touched Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Georgia\u2019s nationally watched race for governor, Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who also has major GOP establishment backing in the state, moved on to a runoff against billionaire Rick Jackson, who has framed himself as a Trump ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson has spent over $80 million of his own fortune on TV ads, many of which have tied him to Trump, but Trump has been clear that he does not support Jackson, who is now headed to a runoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of confusion. Everyone\u2019s saying I endorsed them. I didn\u2019t. I endorsed a man named Burt Jones, your lieutenant governor,\u201d Trump said this month. \u201cVote for Burt Jones. He\u2019s just an incredible guy who has my complete and total endorsement in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s unclear, however, is how Trump\u2019s GOP primary dominance will play out in the midterm general election, with Republicans trying to hold on to slim House and Senate majorities. Democrats could take the House and are trying to challenge for the Senate, even as that is considered a much more difficult endeavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Senate Republicans think that what could be seen as a Trump \u201cwin\u201d Tuesday, ahead of yet another primary, actually hurts Republican chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most notable example is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as of Tuesday the Trump-endorsed Senate candidate in his state. If he wins next week\u2019s GOP primary runoff, as is expected, Paxton will enter the general election at a significant fundraising disadvantage against Democratic nominee James Talarico. And he also comes with significant political baggage, including a 2023 impeachment by the GOP-led state House before his acquittal in the Senate. Then there is the fact that his wife filed for divorce on \u201cbiblical grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of Republicans fear that Paxton was the inferior candidate compared with Sen. John Cornyn, and they believe national GOP groups will now have to spend money in Texas that otherwise could have been used to boost Republican Senate candidates in other key states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the pathway for Paxton is there, but it\u2019s more uphill,\u201d Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate \u2014 a tall order but one increasingly seen as doable because of Trump\u2019s tanking approval ratings among independent voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It excites Democrats about their prospects of flipping the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile the Texas GOP has been embroiled in a \u2018bitter,\u2019 \u2018costly intraparty war\u2019 that has fractured their base and left them drained of resources, Democratic enthusiasm has surged to its highest level in decades,\u201d Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokeswoman Maeve Coyle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJames Talarico is building the campaign to win, and Texans will send him to the U.S. Senate in November,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n