David La Torre
Trumpism died in Pennsylvania on Election Day.
Before this election, I predicted that Democrat Josh Shapiro would win by 9 points and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz would win by a narrow margin of 2 points.
Governor-elect Shapiro ran a great campaign, but he would have won even if he ran it badly.
Republican candidate Doug Mastriano made it effortless and lost by double digits in a supposedly red year. Normally this would be unthinkable, but the strategy of the so-called electoral integrity, hiding from the media, and relying on divine intervention will go down in history as the worst American gubernatorial race of the 21st century. And it’s only 2022.
US senator-elect John Fetterman also hid in a similar way. He hid the severity of the stroke, and his wife called it a “little hiccup” immediately afterward. He was to regain his constitutional rights just days after major heart surgery, although now he admits he almost died.
How he might govern Pennsylvania if something happened to Gov. Tom Wolf will remain a mystery. Fetterman then went into hiding for months, campaigning on social media, refusing to release his medical records and agreeing to a late-date debate only after most absentee ballots had been cast. His performance was shockingly penniless, but he managed to beat the clock.
Many people outside of Pennsylvania wonder how the people of our Commonwealth could elect Fetterman. Let’s be clear: our voters are not stupid. They know all about Fetterman, and yet they voted for him because of their dislike of President Donald Trump’s candidate – celebrity physician Mehmet Oz – and Fetterman’s support of Roe v. Wade.
We know this because Fetterman’s numbers in suburban Philadelphia and rural Pennsylvania exceeded estimates.
So the biggest loser is the Republican Party, which never stood up to Trump. My conscience is clear. I voted for Lou Barletta for Governor and David McCormick for Senate.
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Virtually any of the remaining GOP candidates could defeat Shapiro. And McCormick wins easily. But Trump and his fellow election deniers made sure of that.
They force-fed us to Mastriano and he took the entire ticket. And if predictions are true, he shockingly cost Republicans in the House of Representatives, despite a seemingly insurmountable lead of 23 seats.
Only die-hard supporters would deny that Trump was a huge success as president, but as someone who voted for him twice, it’s sheltered to say that he ruined his legacy by getting enraged and refusing to admit that he legally lost the 2020 election.
Trump’s selfishness was on display once again when his behavior discouraged Republican voters in Georgia from participating in the runoff elections scheduled for January 5, 2021, costing Republicans control of the US Senate.
He then did everything in his power to ensure that Republicans lost the Senate again that year, pushing tender candidates like Oz and Herschel Walker and then torpedoing moderate Republicans like Joe O’Dea in Colorado.
This has led to an uncomfortable truth for Trump supporters: Everything President Joe Biden has pushed through Congress is Trump’s fault. He gave the Democrats a majority and time for the Trumps to admit it. It is also time to stop calling moderate Republicans RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and find common ground. Events should have gigantic tents with differences. Debate is a good thing. Instead, the Trump Way turned Republicans against each other.
Trump is the biggest reason Republicans lost two highly winnable offices in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. Many of us saw this coming. Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. To the Democrats.
David La Torre, a Republican and communications professional, writes from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
