Republican higher-ups are all but giving up on their efforts to find an alternative to former President Donald Trump and lining up behind him as his most credible challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, appears to be fizzling out, conservative analyst and one-time GOP strategist Tim Miller wrote for The Bulwark on Thursday.
"The Republican party has barely tried anything in their effort to move on and they are already out of ideas. After a few bad weeks in the polls for Tiny D, the party poohbahs are throwing in the towel and getting back aboard the Trump Train," wrote Miller.
"Whether it’s a pheromonal attraction to his rakish, devil-may-care persona, an addiction to the small donors and the retweets, an unquenchable desire to be invited to a disgusting dinner in a gaudy dining room, a cowardly fear of being shouted down at the airport by obese hillbillies, a boner for making the libs squirm — or a little from columns A, B, C, D, and E — the GOP grownups are signing up to Do It all over again. Like the besotted Jack Twist staring at their mountain man, these Republicans just don’t know how to quit Trump."
Among the prominent Republicans taking the plunge to endorse Trump are National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines and former New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin — neither of whom, Miller wrote, are exactly "MAGA morons."
"Zeldin was reportedly set to be a 'top official' in the DeSantis campaign before he signed on with Trump. (Ouch!) This guy was puffed up as a future party leader by establishment favorite Tom Cotton on the Sunday shows and he was the secret candidate that 'closet normal' Republicans were trying to recruit to take over the RNC from Ronna 'Don’t-Call-Me-Romney' and the Trumpers after the midterm disappointment," wrote Miller. "As for Daines, it is his job to manage the campaign committee that has as its entire purpose the election of GOP senators. The sole individual responsible for tanking that mission in 2022 was Donald Trump — whose endorsed candidates crashed and burned in every competitive race."
Trump's endorsements have been accelerating — he has even secured a number of endorsements from Florida members of Congress, a natural constituency for DeSantis, who has reportedly failed to secure them himself because his lack of people skills.
Miller concluded by declaring the GOP the "Brokeback Party" — with a sardonic final reference.
"These are just the latest pieces of evidence that the number of politicians left in the party who haven’t been completely corrupted by Trump can be counted on one hand," wrote Miller. "And while the fingers of their affection might be tiny and pudgy, Ennis does have those dreamy blue eyes..."
