Fox & Friends all but announced that any humiliation for the tight race in Ohio’s special election – despite Donald Trump’s campaign rally there - was the fault of Republican Troy Balderson – and the fact that Democrat Danny O’Connor looked like a Trump supporter!
As I write this, Balderson is ahead by a mere 0.9% in what should have been an easy victory for him. FiveThirtyEight.com notes that while Balderson is likely to win (though there are still thousands of provisional and absentee ballots to be counted), the Democrats overperformed in this red district by 13 points.
The New York Times reported today that “Republican Party leaders were alarmed by the tight Ohio race in a once-reliably red district, taking it as a vivid expression of the backlash against President Trump in suburban areas.” (Emphases are mine.)
Nevertheless, Trump made the Ohio race about a victory for himself:
When I decided to go to Ohio for Troy Balderson, he was down in early voting 64 to 36. That was not good. After my speech on Saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Now Troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. He will win BIG in Nov.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2018
About a half hour later, Trump remembered (or his staff reminded him) to congratulate Balderson:
.....Congratulations to Troy Balderson on a great win in Ohio. A very special and important race!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2018
Naturally, Trump’s Fox Friends were there to help massage his ego this morning.
First, the Curvy Couch BFFs suggested that Democrat Danny O’Connor, Balderson’s challenger, came close because he didn’t attack Trump. Cohost Brian Kilmeade called it “important to point out” that O’Connor’s website has “nothing anti-Trump.” Kilmeade added that O’Connor “talks about working across the aisle” and “If you run like a Republican, you might actually do well in a Republican district.”
Cohost Abby Huntsman made the Trump-ego-massaging point more explicitly, with amplification from Kilmeade:
HUNTSMAN: If [Balderson] gets to that finish line, I don't think he would get there if it weren't for President Trump going and doing that rally just a few days ago. I think it's a reminder to Republicans, you need more than just Trump out there campaigning for you. You need to be likable. The local paper actually endorsed the Democrat, the first time they'd done that in decades, because they said that he couldn't identify on anything other than Trump. They didn't know who he was as a person.
[…]
KILMEADE: Good point, and other candidates should take a lesson… It’s good to have the president there and have the money behind you and say “I have his support” but who are you? Tell me who you are.
HUNTSMAN: Why should we vote for you, not the president.
Doocy, uncharacteristically, was likely a sour note in Trump’s ear. He pointed out that Trump “can, in some cases, motivate the other side.”
Watch the mop up below, from the August 8, 2018 Fox & Friends, via Media Matters.
Richard Santalone commented
2018-08-10 12:38:25 -0400
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“……….The back motors of the ship are just holding it (uh) just enough to keep it from…It’s burst into flames! …….. It’s fire… and it’s crashing! It’s crashing terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It’s burning and bursting into flames and the… and it’s falling on the mooring mast………..Oh it’s… [unintelligible] its flames… Crashing, oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it… it’s a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It’s smoke, and it’s in flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity!……….”
— the immortal words from the late Herb Morrison’s broadcast of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, NJ on May 6, 1937
John McKee commented
2018-08-10 00:25:30 -0400
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Kevin Koster commented
2018-08-08 15:56:08 -0400
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The lesson here is that the Dems blew it in 2010 by allowing the GOP to control the Census. The Dems must work super hard to mobilize the local elections by 2020, so we can get back to something rese,bling sanity, or the situation will continue to get worse for all of us.
