Lara Trump

Republicans have sabotaged themselves with some awful Senate candidates in recent years. During the last election cycle, nearly all of the GOP Senate hopefuls underperformed other Republicans, costing the party control of the crucial chamber.

The biggest miss of all came in 2017, when they lost a seat in deep red Alabama, due to their candidates’ alleged history of trying to pick up teenage girls in malls. (Unsurprising to no one, Roy Moore was also one of the most antigay candidates the party possibly could’ve ever nominated… which is saying something!)

That takes us to 2024, when Republicans once again have a chance to flip the Senate. They only need to win back two seats (one if Trump becomes president), and the map is favorable. But once again, they could be screwing it up.

For the fifth straight cycle, the GOP is running an array of unhinged Trump lovers, with Kari Lake leading the pack of crazy. The Republican nominee in Montana, Tim Sheehy, is already ensnared in a scandal over whether he lied about being shot while serving in Afghanistan.

That’s a long way of saying: Republicans need to support their normal candidates when they can! Larry Hogan, one of the most popular governors in our nation’s recent history, is chief among them.

Serving as governor of Maryland for two terms, the Republican left office with a 77% approval rating. That would be incredible for any governor, but especially a Republican in Maryland. Joe Biden carried the state by more than 30 points.

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With that in mind, Maryland’s Senate elections usually aren’t close. Marylanders haven’t had a Republican represent them in the upper-chamber of Congress since 1977.

But Hogan, who surprised many political observers when he declared his candidacy, has a fighting chance. Under normal circumstances, he would be the darling of the party, gifted with unlimited accolades and cash.

That’s not the case, however!

The new head of the RNC, Lara Trump, demands unfettered loyalty to her convicted felon of a father-in-law. And Hogan crossed a line.

Prior to the verdict in Trump’s hush money case, Hogan urged Americans to “accept the verdict.” For that radical idea, Lara Trump ripped him on CNN.

“He doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point, and quite frankly anybody in America, if that’s the way you feel,” she said to anchor Kasie Hunt.

When asked about whether the GOP would continue to support Hogan, Lara demurred.

“What I’ll tell you is that we of course want to win as a party, but that is a shame, and I think he should have thought long and hard before he said that publicly,” she said.

As far as specifics, Lara offered to get back to Hunt.

“What I can tell you is as the Republican Party co-chair, I think he should never have said something like that. I think that’s ridiculous,” she whined.

Lara’s apparent decision to shun a viable candidate for insufficient loyalty isn’t surprising. When MAGA Barbie first took the job, she vowed to direct “every single penny” in the RNC’s coffers towards her father-in-law’s reelection bid.

“I can assure you there will be no funny business,” she said on something called Real America’s Voice. “Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th President and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave. Because we are not playing games and we have no time to waste.”

One of Trump’s senior campaign advisors, Chris LaCivita, echoed Lara’s sycophantic sentiments when responding to Hogan on social media. “You just ended your campaign,” he posted.

Even with Trump’s history of extreme nepotism, it was surprising when Lara ascended to the top of the RNC. She doesn’t have experience working in politics, or doing, well… much of anything!

Over the last few years, she’s flirted with a senate run in North Carolina, worked briefly as a Fox News contributor and tried her hand at being a very SeRiOuS nEwScAsTeR.

For a couple of months, she even entered her pop diva era, recording a terrible cover version of Tom Petty’s “Don’t Back Down.” She abandoned her music dreams, however, when radio stations wouldn’t play her song.

It remains to be seen whether Hogan can actually win. He’s running against Angela Alsobrooks, county executive of Prince George’s County and a staunch LGBTQ+ ally.

Given the landscape in Maryland, Hogan must run to the left of the GOP’s far-right social agenda. He appeared last weekend at the Annapolis Pride Parade, a rare stop for a Republican candidate.

But LGBTQ+ folx in Maryland say Hogan walking in a Pride parade doesn’t equate to real allyship. He didn’t champion or sign a single pro-LGBTQ+ bill as governor. Every LGBTQ+-friendly measure that passed during his governorship went into law without his signature.

“It has the same effect,” he told the Baltimore Banner.

Hmmm… not really! It matters whether legislative leaders publicly express support for bills. Hogan knows that.

“Larry Hogan, for eight years, essentially acted as if LGBTQ people did not exist,” said Del. Kris Fair, chair of the Maryland General Assembly’s LGBTQ+ Caucus.

And now, the Republican Party may not act like Hogan exists, given his lack of total fealty to Trump. Tough break!

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