Monday, October 7, 2024

Trump's Shaky Get-Out-The Vote Effort




Perhaps due to a poor campaign staff and resources diverted to his legal defense teams, the Malignant Loser decided some time ago to outsource his campaign's get-out-the-vote effort to groups like Charlie Kirk's scam "Turning Point." It doesn't seem to be going well, as the Associated Press reports:

"Turning Point’s representatives have made two things clear in meetings with state and local Republican leaders — Donald Trump has blessed their conservative organization to help lead his get-out-the-vote effort, and local party officials ought to use the group’s new voter mobilization app.

Both prospects terrify fellow Republicans.

Soaring to prominence after Trump’s unexpected 2016 win, Turning Point earned a reputation for hosting glitzy events, cultivating hard-right influencers and raising prodigious sums of money while enriching the group’s leaders. They’ve had far less success helping Republicans win, especially in their adopted home state of Arizona. "  (our emphasis)

The problem with using a zealous MAGAt group like Turning Point is that their focus seems solely on getting their most fervent MAGAt faithful to the polls, not lukewarm or independent voters. More from the AP story:

"The decision by Trump to rely on untested groups such as Turning Point could have sweeping implications for November’s election. Turning Point says it’s operating statewide in Arizona and Wisconsin, two must win states for Trump. It’s also working in two competitive House districts, one in Michigan and another in Nevada, that could also help tip the balance in the presidential race.

The difference of just a few thousand votes in battleground states could mean victory or defeat for candidates up and down the ballot. It’s also a risky move that dismisses independent voters, a small but significant portion of the electorate.

'Their strategy is bad. They know how to talk MAGA, they know how to message the base,' said Tyler Montague, a Republican strategist from Arizona and a longtime Turning Point critic, referring to the former president’s Make America Great Again movement. 'But they literally don’t know what to say to a swing voter. They alienate these people.'”  (our emphasis)

Of course, we're happy to see the Turning Point cultists botch their leader's get-out-the-vote effort by making sure that the most zealous of them vote, when that was already an assured thing. A note of caution for Charlie Kirk: you may want to make sure the Malignant Loser's checks are clearing before you do more work.

(photo: Con man and apprentice / Getty Images)