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Donald Trump returned to the national political stage Saturday night at a regional fair in the small town of Wellington, Ohio, where residents lined the streets and decorated their homes in red, white and blue to celebrate the arrival of the former U.S. president.
“Lorain County is completely home to Donald Trump’s wheelhouse. That’s a place they love, ”said Doug Deeken, president of the Republican Party in Wayne County.“ They like historical demos or historic Republicans or people who haven’t given a bunch and never barely voted. ”
Political operators said Trump’s decision hold on first The post-White House rally in Lorain County – west of Cleveland, a region that includes old steel mills and vast farmland – was a clear choice for the affinity of white working class voters for the president. Despite losing the national election, Trump won the state of Midwestern Ohio in November with eight points in November for Joe Biden; he was the first Republican to win Lorain County by Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Thousands of fans of the former president opened the fairgrounds, covered in pro-Trump merchandise and told politicians they liked to steal the 2020 election from politicians, who in 2024 asked to run again for the White House.
A former TV star who has not ruled out another White House bid and has a huge reputation in most Republican national polls, people have “Trump won!” and “four more years.”
But Ohio also had another reason to fly northeast: revenge.
Trump shared the stage in Wellington with Max Miller, a former White House aide, who launched the first Republican challenge after Anthony Gonzalez, the incumbent deputy, voted to prosecute him for inciting the January 6 deadly uprising among 10 House Republicans. US Capitol. It was Trump later acquitted after seven Republicans in the upper house voted to convict him in the Senate trial.
“Max’s opponent is a guy named Anthony Gonzalez,” Trump said to the crowd, calling his congressman a “great Rino” – just a Republican name.
“That’s not the reason for doing that, but I thought it was a trait of character that isn’t so good…. He’s a salesman, he’s a fake Republican, and he’s embarrassing for your state,” he added. “He’s not the candidate you want to represent the Republican party.”
Trump’s comments underscored the sharp divisions of a Republican Party He struggled to move forward under a Biden administration – and expressed the role the former president wants to play in the middle of next year, when Republicans will relinquish control of both houses of Congress.
He has already accepted a number of Conservative candidates loyal to him – allies say the move will energize the Republican base, and critics have warned that he could sideline moderate voters who want to leave the Trump-era riot in the rearview mirror.
The support of more centrist voters is seen as critical in races across the country, including in Ohio, where Republican Gov. Mike DeWine will seek re-election and a large area of Republicans running for the party’s candidacy to replace the retired senator. Rob Portman. Neither DeWine nor Portman appeared on Trump’s side on Saturday, citing personal duties.
“There are Republicans who would prefer that [Trump] he would be the king and not the king himself for the future, “said Bryan Williams, the former president of the Ohio Republican Party. But he added:” It’s not a large number of people who think Trump should leave the stage. “
Alex Roth, a Republican adviser working on campaigns in northeast Ohio, said most GOP candidates are in pain to show their affinity for Trump.
“Republicans participating in the primaries right now are showing loyalty to the president and it is shaping the way we are conducting our campaigns,” he said.
The desire to side with Trump was evident Saturday night, with all Republican candidates for the Portman Senate seat in attendance.
Trump has yet to accept a candidate in that race, but former state party president Jane Timken’s campaign handed out flyers calling her a “real pro-Trump candidate, America First” candidate. During his current 90-minute speech, the former president asked the crowd to cheer on the candidate they wanted to cheer on.
There is no criticism in the establishment of the Republic of Ohio. John Kasich, a former state governor and interim presidential candidate, was accepted by Biden ahead of last year’s election.
But few Ohio Republicans are willing to criticize the former president, showing the long shadow he continues to cast over the party and its future.
A rare exception is Brad Kastan, a longtime Republican donor based in Columbus.
“For Conservatives and Republicans to succeed, we can’t depend on anyone, or our identity, and I’m worried if we get too hooked on what is divisive at times…. We will end up in the hands of Georgia,” he said, referring to the now southern Republican state. with a Democratic senator.
A Republican operator who asked not to be nominated said, “The party needs to keep in mind that voters are President Trump and not just vote. They vote for the things he did. I think that message is likely to be lost.”
Another GOP person, who also asked for anonymity, said they were not Trump fans. But they acknowledged that the former president would inevitably play a major role in Republican politics.
“Are you going to ask the doctor what they think about the femur?” they asked. “Trump exists. It’s part of the political reality of Republicans and Democrats. The phenomenon it creates is something we have to deal with. You can’t go and remove people’s thighs. “
Swamp notes
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