MAGA Loyalist Mo Brooks Un-Endorsed by Trump in Senate Race
Trump rescinds endorsement of "woke" Mo Brooks, a day after poll places Brooks in a distant third place for the GOP Alabama Senate nomination.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), currently running for Senator in Alabama, proudly lists his Twitter name as “Mo Brooks - Endorsed by President Trump.” The funny thing, however, is as of Wednesday morning this is false.
Donald Trump put out a statement claiming Brooks “went woke” and stated he is withdrawing his endorsement of him. The wokeness in question regards a months-old comment made by Brooks telling voters to move past the 2020 election and to “look forward.”
Despite the clear Marxist connotations of “put that behind you,” Brooks’ has been as much of a Trump loyalist as anyone could be. In the House, not only did he vote in favor of decertifying the electors for the 2020 election, but he was the first congressman to announce he was going to do so. At the “Save America Rally” on January 6, Brooks declared “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!”
Even earlier this week, in a move to virtue signal fealty to Trump, Brooks attacked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY):
“Today, I unveil my pledge to America to fire Mitch McConnell. America can’t afford a Senate leader who is a weak-kneed, debt junkie, open-border RINO Republican, and who, worse yet, sells out America for special interest group cash,” Brooks valiantly professed.
Despite Brooks saying months ago that Republicans should look past the 2020 election, he has remained a staunch advocate that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. While I’m sure his comments surely angered Trump, who has fooled himself into believing his own lie about the 2020 election, the timing of this un-endorsement shows there was further thought into this move.
Mo Brooks started his Senate campaign as the presumed frontrunner, aiming to take the open-seat of retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL). However, the electoral viability of Trump-obsessed candidates was seemingly weaker than first assumed.
The day prior to Trump’s announcement, a poll conducted by Cygnal for Alabama Daily News showed Brooks in a distant third place for the Republican nomination. And if there’s one character trait we know of Trump, is that he hates being on the losing side.
Heading into the 2022 midterms, Trump had hoped to hand-pick loyalists for office, diminish the influence of McConnell and anyone else who could get in the way, and further cement his pillar within the Republican caucus. So far, that has not gone as planned.
Across the nation, numerous Trump-endorsed candidates are flailing in their primary elections. In the Georgia Governor’s race, former Sen. David Perdue is trailing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) is second to former Gov. Patrick McCrory in the open-seat Senate race in North Carolina. Kelly Tshibaka is lagging behind incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for her seat. Katie Arrington, hoping to take the House seat of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), has been attacked by former Trump administration officials Nikki Haley and Mike Mulvaney, both of whom have endorsed Mace. Perhaps most embarrassingly, Trump’s pick for the Pennsylvania Senate, Sean Parnell, has already dropped out of the race following accusations from his ex-wife of spousal and child abuse, which led him to lose custody of his children.
With Trump picking losers across the country, the weight of his frustrations has become too bearing, and Mo Brooks was cut loose. It is not out of the realm of possibility that more un-endorsements could follow as primary races begin to heat up. In the end, not even absolute loyalty could save Brooks from Trump’s fear of losing.
Very thoughtful perspective from both of you!
The irony here is that being dropped by Trump may improve his chances. The question is, what’s more important to Trump: getting the “win”, or getting his man on the inside, even if that is accomplished by publicly disavowing him? I’m genuinely not sure.