Is Trump a wizard or a fool?
Politico reports that the Dr Oz Nomination is causing some heartburn in Trumpland:
Donald Trump and close allies are moving swiftly to contain the blast radius of the backlash sparked by his endorsement of physician Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
People familiar with the campaign’s operation said they expect a number of prominent Trumpworld surrogates to soon hit the trail with Oz, demonstrating the depth of his MAGA backing. Among them are Ben Carson, who headed the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Trump, and John Fredericks, a conservative talk radio host, both slated to appear at an Oz event next week.
Others close to Trump have tried their hands at lessening the blowback to the Oz endorsement. On Monday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity invited the celebrity doctor on his show to discuss his record, amid a wave of criticism from prominent figures on the right that Oz isn’t sufficiently conservative. Hannity, according to people familiar with the matter, played an outsized role in influencing Trump’s decision to endorse his friend Oz in the first place.
“You know I read a couple articles, I got a lot of reaction to this, 99 percent supportive, ‘MAGA is shocked,’” Hannity said. “When I supported Donald Trump pretty early I got the crap beaten out of me — Glenn Beck, Ben Shapiro … and I promised people he’d govern as a conservative and he did. And I’m saying the same thing about you [Oz].”
But the night after Hannity’s segment, his fellow Fox News host Laura Ingraham did one of her own, in which she played clips of Oz’s past positions on abortion and gun laws and pressed former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway — who supports businessman David McCormick, Oz’s main GOP rival, and is working with a McCormick-supporting super PAC — if Trump’s decision was wrong.
“Kellyanne, do you think the Trump endorsement of Oz was a mistake?” Ingraham said. “Hannity I think endorsed Oz, and I think that’s probably not inconsequential for President Trump. You wouldn’t answer the question of whether it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake for Trump to endorse Oz. I’ll say it, I’m not afraid to say it.”
The dueling Fox News segments illustrate the fissures that have erupted in MAGA world over Trump’s intervention in the Pennsylvania GOP primary. And it is the latest example of how the former president’s endorsements have often added more chaos to already contentious fights to define the Republican Party during his post-presidency.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook from committee chairs in Pennsylvania saying, ‘What the heck is going on? What was President Trump thinking?’” said Army veteran Sean Parnell, the candidate Trump originally endorsed in the race, who withdrew amid a child custody battle in which his estranged wife alleged abuse. Parnell, who denied the allegations, is supporting McCormick.
Following Trump’s endorsement, social media erupted with complaints from popular right-wing figures ranging from Blaze TV’s Allie Beth Stuckey and far-right personality Jack Posobiec to longtime Trump hand Roger Stone and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who recently saw his own Trump endorsement rescinded by the former president.
“It’s like Donald Trump’s staff is sabotaging Trump by convincing him to make the worst possible endorsements,” wrote conservative pundit Erick Erickson on Twitter.
Sorry, Erick, son of Erick. The Cossacks work for the Czar. If there has ever been a decision that Trump made himself it’s this one. He worships TV and thinks that any celebrity is a must win. He’s made that clear. At his rally last weekend he said that Oz had great ratings and that exactly “like a poll” that shows “people like you.” He was impressed with the crowds at Oz’s events and, of course, the fact that Oz once said Trump was in perfect health. (He likes that.) Also, Oz’s top rival McCormick said something negative about Trump once so that’s a huge non-starter. These are the criteria Trump uses when making endorsements. It’s all him.