Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection in 2022, and Trump-loyal Republicans are already itching to go full MAGA and nominate one of the disgraced ex-president’s true believers, Rep. Jim Jordan.
According to The New York Times, Republicans in the Buckeye State believe that running a candidate closely aligned with Trump gives them the best chance to hold onto that Senate seat.
The Times reports, “The overwhelming consensus among Ohio Republicans is that a Trump-aligned candidate would be best positioned to win a competitive Senate primary, and no potential candidate has a better claim to Mr. Trump’s voters in the state than Representative Jim Jordan, who was Mr. Trump’s chief defender during his first impeachment trial and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the former president’s final days in office.”
Rep. Jordan, of course, is one of the dozens of seditionist Republicans in Congress who pushed Trump’s big lie about the election being stolen, which ultimately led to the MAGA attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
The Republican Party is still thoroughly infected with Trumpism
The embrace of Trump stooges like Jim Jordan, a guy who is firmly in the MAGA extremist wing of the party, shows just how thoroughly the GOP is infected with Trumpism.
As conservative commentator Charlie Sykes said on Monday, the fact that more establishment Republicans like Rob Portman are leaving the political scene is an indication that the GOP will become more extreme in the near future, not less.
“You know what we could be looking at in a couple years? We could be looking at Sen. Lara Trump from North Carolina, Kelli Ward being the Republican nominee in Arizona, Jim Jordan being the Republican nominee in Ohio,” Sykes said. “You get a sense of where this Republican Party is going right now?”
Video:
Charlie Sykes says Donald Trump may be out of the White House, but the GOP is still thoroughly infected with Trumpism. pic.twitter.com/gP61dSkvOZ
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 26, 2021
Donald Trump may be out of the White House, but the party he left behind is still proudly carrying the insurrectionist MAGA torch forward.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
