There’s nothing quite as humbling as begging for divine intervention.
A few of the extreme candidates that Donald Trump backed in the primaries are facing some big challenges ahead of November’s general election. Whether it’s campaign funds drying up, hypocrisy, ghosts from the past coming back to haunt or general flailing around, the Trumpers are having a hard time trying to convince normal voters (i.e. those who don’t buy into the whole brand of Big Lie, MAGA extremism) to support them in a few short weeks.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had tried to keep his party from experiencing the uncertainty the GOP is currently facing. But Trump endorsed a lot of bad candidates with a lot of bad baggage. Roe’s overturning proved to be far more unpopular than Republicans expected. And a big chunk of the Republican candidates who won primaries and are on the ballot in November hardly have a policy platform beyond something-something 2020 election.
That doesn’t mean they won’t win. But it does mean that winning won’t be pretty — and they’ll need all the help they can get.
So as things get desperate, a few are turning to the Almighty to help.
You’ve probably seen by now that Doug Mastriano, the avowed Christian nationalist and Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania, has launched a 40 Days of Fasting and Prayer event to get people to intercede with the big guy upstairs on his behalf. It’s not super clear what the political motive is — he’s already got the Christian right on his side — beyond perhaps hoping that speaking the evangelicals’ language will crack the code to open their pocketbooks. Fasting, after all, is code for desperation in the evangelical world. (When I participated in fasting events growing up, it was usually because my youth group was out of funds for our Six Flags trip.)
The 40 days could also be a nice nod at an Old Testament deep cut — after making Noah and his ark inhabitants suffer through 40 days and 40 nights of floating terror, his faithfulness was rewarded. Noah’s faithfulness, that is. TBD on Doug’s.
And down in Georgia, Herschel Walker is also showing off his rusty armor of god. In case you somehow missed it, The Daily Beast published a story in the wee hours of the morning revealing that one of Walker’s ex-girlfriend’s claims that Walker got her pregnant in 2009. The unnamed ex-girlfriend told the Beast that the former football star not only urged her to get an abortion, but also paid for it. She was able to corroborate her story with witness accounts and receipts, including a get well card from Walker.
Walker has faced about 100 different allegations involving infidelity and secret children this campaign season, but the abortion allegation is striking given his purported position on the procedure — he wants abortion to be completely banned, has equated it with murder, and said he doesn’t believe in exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the pregnant person.
Walker has denied the allegations. His son, Christian Walker, has since called out his estranged father on TikTok, saying he’s lying. The elder Walker has vowed to sue the Daily Beast. But the candidate also conveniently attended a prayer luncheon today with a bunch of his supporters at First Baptist Atlanta. The event was closed to the press, but some photos from inside the room were posted on Twitter:
Sometimes you gotta pray the hypocrisy away. Or play the part to get your campaign off life support. God bless.
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
NEW: Trump Asks SCOTUS To Help Fend Off DOJ In MAL Docs Case
RonJohn Jokes Jan. 6 Mob Taught Us One Thing: How To ‘Use Flagpoles’ As Weapons
Read this in TPM Prime: Gov’t Approach To Trump Docs Probe Revealed, Doc By Doc
The latest from Kate Riga: Kagan Laments Her Conservative Peers’ Evisceration Of The Voting Rights Act
The big takeaway from oral arguments: Jackson Turns Originalism Against Conservatives To Argue For Minority Voting Protections
Catch up on our live coverage here: Supreme Court Justices Get Chance To Dismantle What’s Left Of Voting Rights Act
Trump Lawyer (Wisely) Refused Ex-POTUS’ Demand To Say All Govt Docs Had Been Returned
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Jackson Tangles With Gorsuch In Her First Oral Argument Appearance — Kate Riga
What We Are Reading
The Tyranny of the Supreme Court — Chris Lehmann
Why a pro-abortion-rights candidate ran an ad where she gives birth — Monica Hesse
We’re getting this election entirely backward — Paul Waldman
