Each time Trump gratuitously attacks a fellow Republican – Mulvaney cites several examples – he loses a few voters. And those voters add up over time.
“At best, voters may see it as bluster and frustration or just ‘Trump being Trump.’ At worst, they may see it as vindictive childishness, seeking revenge on those whom Trump perceives as disloyal to him, without regard for the well-being of the party or the country.”
Trump, says Mulvaney, sees this division as necessary to victory. But it hasn’t always worked.
“[It] didn’t work for him in 2020, or in the House elections in 2018, or the Senate elections of 2022. Indeed, so far, 2016 looks to be the exception, not the rule.”
“Whether it is beating up on dead war heroes, slandering popular Republican candidates, (or having dinner with white supremacists at Mar-a-Lago, or calling a reporter a “very nasty person,” or….) Trump keeps finding ways to subtract from his support.”
“Unless he can learn how to add as well as he subtracts and divides,” Mulvaney concludes, “the math seems to point to yet another loss in 2024.”
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
