“I had President Trump’s endorsement at the beginning, but then Mitch McConnell spent millions on TV attacking me,” wrote Brooks. “At that time, it looked like our campaign was going nowhere, and sadly, President Trump pulled his endorsement.”
All of which is interesting! But not as interesting — or surprising — as Brooks’ decision to beg Trump for a re-endorsement. Or the spin the congressman is putting on Trump’s decision to abandon him.
“I think President Trump knew what he was doing,” wrote Brooks. “He gave our campaign the kick in the pants we needed. He was like a football coach, grabbing us by the face mask and getting us in gear. Part of me wonders if he also knew that in pulling his endorsement, he’d bait ol’ Mitch into thinking we couldn’t win and get Mitch to stop attacking us.”
Oh, so that is what Trump was doing! This was four-dimensional chess! It wasn’t that Trump wanted to get as far away from what looked like a losing campaign as possible. No, it was that Trump wanted to simultaneously a) deliver a wake-up call to Brooks’ campaign and b) throw McConnell off the scent that Brooks could come back.
This rationalization is very much in keeping with a line of thinking prevalent among Trump’s most ardent supporters: That he is a sort of all-knowing political savant, constantly seeing five moves ahead and forever misunderstood by Democrats, the media and establishment Republicans.
It is also ridiculous. There’s zero evidence to suggest that Trump was doing anything but throwing a loyal ally overboard because that ally looked like a loser. Trump operates on a purely transactional basis. If something is good for him, he does it. If that something turns bad, he stops doing it. Simple.
Brooks’ appeal for a re-endorsement speaks to how utterly craven he is in pursuit of the Republican nomination. Trump dumped him in his time of biggest need. Now he’s begging for Trump to come back — “MAGA Nation, join me in asking President Trump to #ReEndorseMO!” Brooks writes — and pretending that he whole thing was done for his own good.
Remarkable.
