GOP donors lit cash on fire in failed bid to keep extremists out of party: ex-strategist

The Republican Party megadonor class has been humiliated after throwing away millions of dollars trying to prevent extreme or controversial figures from winning GOP nominations across the country, former Republican strategist Tim Miller wrote in a scorching obituary for The Bulwark on Thursday.

This comes amid the fallout for Republicans of nominations like Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor of North Carolina, a man who has denied the Holocaust and said he pines for the era when women couldn't vote.

And Robinson is by no means an outlier.

"Republican megadonor Ken Griffin, Walmart heir Rob Walton, and other Trump-skeptical GOP rich guys had a plan: They poured millions of dollars into House races on Super Tuesday in an attempt to prevent additional MAGA 'rabble-rousers' from winning primaries in deep-red congressional districts," wrote Miller.

"The donors funded two super PACs that have been engaged in this effort: Conservatives for American Excellence and America Leads Action."

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These groups, he noted, spent millions of dollars opposing candidates including Barry Moore in Alabama, Bo Hines and Mark Harris in North Carolina, and Jon O'Shea and Brandon Gill in Texas. Moore, Harris, and Gill won their nominations, and O'Shea is facing a runoff, with only Hines losing outright. And even then, those two candidates' opponents are still firm Trump supporters.

"All these losses come on the heels of several other defeats for these very same donors. Griffin recently put ... $5 million into the super PAC for Haley, who dropped out of the race yesterday morning," wrote Miller.

This should be a lesson to the Trump-squeamish Republican donor class, Miller concluded: "Spend as much as you want running normie candidates, but they probably won’t win unless you can find yourself some normie Republican voters. Good luck with that."