President Donald Trump said on Saturday afternoon that he will be heavily involved in the Republican primaries for the 2018 election, but he said it’s unlikely he will back anyone challenging a Republican incumbent.
“I’ll be very much involved,” Trump said from Camp David when asked if he’d be involved in the GOP primaries. “I will be actually working for incumbents and anybody else that has my kind of thinking. I think that’s going to happen, and we’ll make a lot of trips. We’ll be very involved.”
Asked if he would consider supporting any primary challengers, Trump indicated it’s not likely, citing Republican Roy Moore’s loss in the Alabama special election.
“I don’t see that happening. I don’t see that happening at this moment, no. I think they have sort of scattered,” he said. “We have somebody that lost us the state of Alabama, and I think, as far as I’m concerned, that was a shame that that was lost. It should never have been lost.”
Incumbents protect Trump, Trump protects incumbents. Paging Steve Bannon to blow this kumbaya party up.
I don’t think so. Rump will be “very involved” to the extent that a Rethug is running in a State that he carried with a large majority. In a purple State, the local GOP will have never heard of someone named Trump nor need any support from them.
He won’t help challengers, unless, of course, the challenger says nice things about him ( treats him “fairly”) and the incumbent is insufficiently servile.
Reading his comments is like trying to decipher meaning in tea leaves.
“I hope Donald Trump gets involved not only in GOP primaries, but in the general election.”
Senator Doug Jones (D-Alabama)