{"id":22290,"date":"2026-05-05T08:47:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/its-showtime-for-trumps-revenge-tour-will-he-win\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:47:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:47:05","slug":"its-showtime-for-trumps-revenge-tour-will-he-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/its-showtime-for-trumps-revenge-tour-will-he-win\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s showtime for Trump’s revenge tour. Will he win?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Donald Trump\u2019s power as the GOP\u2019s kingmaker faces a major test with this month’s primaries. So far, he’s on rocky footing.<\/p>\n

His revenge tour kicks off Tuesday in Indiana, as he tries to oust eight Republican state legislators who blocked his redistricting effort there. Then it moves on to Louisiana<\/a> and Kentucky<\/a>, where he\u2019s backing challengers to two longtime enemies, Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas Massie, who he\u2019s been itching to unseat for years. Trump has also selected his favorite candidates in the crowded GOP primaries for Alabama Senate and Georgia governor.<\/p>\n

But his picks have struggled to dominate their fields, with most holding only narrow leads in polling and some failing to pull far ahead in fundraising. In Indiana, even a few allies of the president are tempering expectations of a full eight-lawmaker sweep.<\/p>\n

The results will reveal how effective the president\u2019s political operation is at turning out Republicans when Trump is not on the ballot, and how motivated MAGA is to go along with his ongoing retribution campaign. It\u2019s also a potent expression of his power ahead of the likely lame-duck phase of his presidency.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans \u2014 even those involved in the races \u2014 say the shaky standing of Trump\u2019s preferred candidates suggests that his ability to move his base en masse is beginning to slip. MAGA, they note, may be developing a mind of its own as the party begins to look beyond the Trump era.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s hit his max power and now you\u2019re seeing the backside of that power curve,\u201d said former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent target of Trump\u2019s wrath who retired<\/a> from Congress amid intense backlash for his 2021 vote to impeach the president and a new congressional map that would have left him in a member-on-member primary. \u201cThis will be his last competitive election cycle that will have any impact on him. And I think the base is starting to think into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has a long history of unseating his congressional opponents, backing primary challengers to his critics and wielding his social media platform and his official bully pulpit to create such politically hostile conditions that many of his adversaries simply retire. Republican candidates have long jockeyed \u2014 and continue to trip over themselves \u2014 for his stamp of approval, hoping not to end up on the wrong side of his anger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump endorsement is the most powerful and influential endorsement in the history of American politics,\u201d said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle. \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s sterling record with his endorsements speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he\u2019s produced a very mixed track record in contested races<\/a>. Trump\u2019s candidates have felled some of his biggest foes in GOP primaries, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)<\/a> and other Republicans<\/a> who voted to impeach<\/a> the president in his first term. But he\u2019s also suffered some high-profile losses; he failed to oust Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and has watched several of his picks fall short in congressional races<\/a> over the years, including Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama and scandal-plagued Rep. Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Success will be even trickier this cycle: The May contests come as he continues an unpopular war in Iran that\u2019s causing voters pain at the gas pump, as people sour on his economic and immigration agenda and as his approval ratings continue to sink.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Trump] endorsement just isn’t moving voters. It just isn’t,\u201d said a GOP operative working on the Alabama Senate race who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. \u201cWhen you’ve endorsed more than 800 people in 10 years, the potency of an individual endorsement wanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

May 5: Indiana<\/h5>\n

As the redistricting wars become a defining element of the midterms, Tuesday\u2019s election will illuminate the president\u2019s ability to maintain his grip on the Republican coalition.<\/p>\n

While the White House and its allies have deployed the full force of its political operation against eight Indiana legislators \u2014 spending nearly $10 million across the races \u2014 they\u2019re beginning to downplay the likelihood they will sweep all of them. Critics of the revenge effort say the strategy has been scattered and undisciplined.<\/a><\/p>\n

How many incumbents survive will be an important piece of evidence predicting how the rest of May will go for the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve tried to be helpful, as we always are, with our colleagues that are incumbents right now and will continue to be,\u201d Rodric Bray, Indiana\u2019s Senate President Pro Tempore who led the charge against Trump\u2019s redistricting push, told Blue Light News. \u201cThe challenge, of course, is that money matters in politics. When $9 million is spent, that has a huge impact, and we’ll see what the result is.\u201d<\/p>\n

May 16: Louisiana<\/h5>\n

Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow is struggling to dominate the polls in her primary challenge to unseat Cassidy, who earned MAGA\u2019s ire for voting to convict Trump on impeachment charges in 2021. The latest Emerson College poll<\/a> shows Letlow locked in a close three-way race, with her at 27 percent, State Treasurer John Fleming at 28 percent and Cassidy at 21 percent. Nearly 1 in 4 likely GOP primary voters are undecided.<\/p>\n

Letlow entered the race at Trump\u2019s urging. She boasts endorsements from Louisiana\u2019s GOP Gov. Jeff Landry and national groups like the Make America Healthy Again PAC, which has promised $1 million in support like distributing mailers \u2014 a needed financial boost given her middling war chest<\/a> compared with Cassidy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But Trump has not sent the calvary for Letlow, withholding his own war chest and not making any trips to Louisiana on her behalf. The president recently doubled down<\/a> on his campaign against Cassidy, telling GOP primary voters to kick the incumbent \u201cOUT OF OFFICE\u201d \u2014 but Trump notably did not name-drop Letlow or urge voters to back her.<\/p>\n

May 19: Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia<\/h5>\n

Trump faces two very different tests of his influence in Kentucky, where he is simultaneously boosting Rep. Andy Barr as retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell\u2019s successor and pushing to oust a longtime thorn in his side in Massie.<\/p>\n

The president waded in late for Barr, endorsing the representative<\/a> less than three weeks before the primary while also offering one of his two rivals, businessman Nate Morris, a job in his administration \u2014 a move that could help propel Barr past former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.<\/p>\n

But it is Massie\u2019s 4th District race that may prove more troublesome for Trump<\/a>. The president finally fronted a challenger to the renegade Republican after Massie voted against the party\u2019s signature tax-and-spending package last year, and Trump\u2019s allies have now poured over $10 million into sinking the incumbent.<\/p>\n

So far, Massie has withstood the onslaught. He leads his rival, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, in polling, fundraising and name ID. One recent survey<\/a> showed half of likely voters in his deep-red district with a libertarian bent preferred an independent-minded lawmaker, compared to 37 percent who wanted a strong Trump supporter.<\/p>\n

Massie, who threads that needle by saying he\u2019s with Trump \u201c91 percent of the time,\u201d argues that supporting him and the president aren\u2019t \u201cmutually exclusive things.\u201d And he thinks the Trump-directed flood of outside money against him has its limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf outside billionaires spend millions of dollars, they can change somebody\u2019s profile,\u201d Massie said in a recent interview. \u201cBut I think what they\u2019re going to find out is that my brand is established well enough \u2026 that [they] can persuade some of the people, but they\u2019re not going to be able to persuade enough of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president isn\u2019t being driven by revenge in Alabama. But even there, his chosen candidate is battling to break through a crowded GOP primary field for Senate: The Trump-backed Rep. Barry Moore has a slight lead in public polling, while Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has been in office for nearly a decade, is holding his own.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Georgia, Trump\u2019s backing of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones\u2019 gubernatorial run is a rebuke of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who rose to national prominence by defying the president\u2019s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and is himself running for governor.<\/p>\n

Still, Trump\u2019s endorsement has its limits: Rick Jackson, a health care executive, has a slight lead over Jones in most polls for the GOP primary as he also makes a play for the MAGA base. He\u2019s been pummelling the lieutenant governor with millions spent on attack ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any other candidate had received that amount of negative, they would be polling within the margin of error of zero,\u201d said a Georgia-based Republican strategist who is unaffiliated with any candidate and was granted anonymity to speak openly. \u201cWhen you’re looking at the reasons why [Jones] is now in a toss-up race, I would say the President’s endorsement is by far the top reason why.\u201d<\/p>\n

As both Jackson and Jones compete for the same slice of voters, some Republicans see Jones\u2019 inability to dominate the race as evidence of Trump\u2019s waning influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just Donald Trump \u2014 Georgia candidates historically have not benefited very much from endorsements from out-of-state celebrities,\u201d said Jason Shepherd, former Cobb County GOP Chair.<\/p>\n

May 26: Texas run-off<\/h5>\n

After Sen. John Cornyn finished ahead of Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas\u2019 March primary, Republicans in Washington were on standby for Trump\u2019s expected endorsement<\/a>. It never came.<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps in the clearest example of MAGA beginning to make decisions without Trump\u2019s explicit approval, Texas Republicans have rallied around the scandal-plagued Paxton. Polling<\/a> now shows that a Trump endorsement for Cornyn, at this point, likely wouldn\u2019t sway voters significantly \u2014 and Paxton would maintain his edge.<\/p>\n

GOP Texas consultant Vinny Minchillo that if Trump does decide to weigh in, he \u201cwill have to sell this to the faithful and tell them exactly what to do. Especially if he endorses Cornyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s endorsement still matters, he said, but \u201cless so with each day that passes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s power as the GOP\u2019s kingmaker faces a major test with this month’s primaries. So far, he’s on rocky footing. His revenge tour kicks off Tuesday in Indiana, as he tries to oust eight Republican state legislators who blocked his redistricting effort there. Then it moves on to Louisiana and Kentucky, where he\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}