For a long time, given Biden’s troubles during his second year, the inflation, gas prices, White House messaging, and – yes, the situation on the border, it looked fairly obvious that the “MAGA party” (As Eric Trump calls it) was going to take over both chambers of Congress. Then Trump got involved and, well, just MAGA’d all over everything. Now, the Senate and even the House are in doubt.

Trump wanted to control which candidate won the GOP nomination in each state, especially in the Senate. Obviously, Trump has only one criterion, whoever he believes will be most loyal to him personally. Trump once said that he valued loyalty over competence, which might explain his business failures. It may well lead to a Democratic victory in the Senate, perhaps even one that makes Manchin and Sinema irrelevant. Trump’s hapless picks in Georgia (Herschel Walker), Pennsylvania (Mehmet Oz), Ohio (J.D. Vance), and Arizona (Masters) could lead to a four-state sweep, and two would be “pick-ups,” red to blue. We might add that Val Demmings is currently leading Marco Rubio by four points in Florida.

Clearly – CLEARLY – this is infuriating McConnell, who knows that the above won their primaries based solely upon Trump’s endorsement, with the possible exception of Masters. Despite a map that favored the Republicans (Hold Pennsylvania and Ohio, pick up seats in Georgia and Arizona), and only needing one seat, McConnell now doubts his Senate chances and said it out loud:

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different, they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”

MCCONNELL in KY asked for his midterm projections: "I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome."

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) August 18, 2022

And we have shitty candidates because of Trump, McConnell did not add, but easily could have. When Trump attacks McConnell, he does it without reservation and very clearly – Old Crow. For McConnell, this is a very clear shot back, McConnell style.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman