GOP donors fear Trump will force Republicans to back 2020 election lies -- and cost them 2022 midterms

Almost every one of Donald Trump's campaign advisers see his obsession with losing the 2020 election as a waste of time, but Republicans are bracing for that topic to be the defining theme of next year's midterm elections.

The twice-impeached one-term president regularly steers conversations and speeches back to his election fraud conspiracies, and GOP donors and allies expect him to do the same thing once he resumes his campaign rallies later this week, reported the Washington Post.

"He's going to spray friendly fire on other Republicans and settle scores under the auspices of endorsing people in Republican primaries for 2022," said Republican donor Dan Eberhart, a former Trump supporter who has backed away since his attacks on the election.

Eberhart, the CEO of the oil-drilling services company Canary, has been warning GOP candidates that election fraud conspiracies are a losing issue, and he's worried Trump will force them to campaign on those to win his coveted endorsement.

"This back-to-the-future style is putting the Republican Party in a 2020 straitjacket," Eberhart said, "preventing it from learning from our 2020 losses and adapting to the most recent voter concerns."