(This cartoon image is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.)According to senior White House aides, Donald Trump is looking forward to traveling all over the country in 2018 to campaign for Republicans in House, Senate, and Gubernatorial races -- and expects to spend most of the year doing that.
According to the Washington Post:
“The president has told advisers that he wants to travel extensively and hold rallies and that he is looking forward to spending much of 2018 campaigning. He has also told aides that the elections would largely determine what he can get done — and that he expects he would be blamed for losses, such as last week’s humiliating defeat that handed a Senate seat in Alabama to a Democrat for the first time in 25 years.”
My question is -- How many Republicans will want him to do that? If Trump comes to your state to campaign for you, will that help or hurt? A case can certainly be made for the latter.
Trump has recently campaigned for three candidates -- Ed Gillispie in Virginia, and Luther Strange and Roy Moore in Alabama. All three of those candidates lost -- Strange lost in the primary, while Gillispie and Moore lost to Democrats in statewide elections. Trump's support either had no positive effect, or it had a negative effect for those GOP candidates.
Add to this the fact that Trump has a very negative job approval rating across the country. His approval is in the 30's and disapproval is in the 50's -- and it has been that way for quite a while now.
If your seat is a safe one, then why would you want to take a chance on having Trump campaign for you? And if you are in a competitive race, why seek the endorsement of someone the public doesn't;t like.
Trump simply has no coattails -- and as much as he thinks he can help Republicans in 2018, they probably won't want his "help".
