As the crucial Pennsylvania Senate race between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Donald Trump-backed TV celebrity Dr. Oz approaches, the former president is coming to the same conclusion that many party advisers and conservative bigwigs reached earlier this summer: Oz too. Doom is possible.
According to two sources who discussed the midterm election with the former president, Trump has spoken privately of his pick in the Keystone State that he is “fucking to lose” unless something drastic changes. are going.
In recent weeks, some Trump aides have repeatedly flagged voting for the former president, who is Dr. Oz at times by a wide or double-digit margin to his Democratic opponent. Trump has occasionally responded by asking advisers how it is possible that someone who has been popular on TV for so long is doing so poorly in elections. When Trump asked whether the voting was “fake” or skewed, many people close to him assured him that – as one source describes Rolling Stone – “it’s not a case of elections being ‘rigged. “There are major problems with this campaign and this candidate in particular.”
This source adds that Trump’s “idea is that it would be incredibly embarrassing for Oz if he loses to ‘that guy’ because he thinks so little about [Fetterman]. He thinks Fetterman Biden.” and is hiding more [than Joe Biden] in his basement.” (The Democratic Senate candidate is recovering from a stroke shortly before winning his primary earlier this year.)
But it wouldn’t just be embarrassing for Dr. Oz. According to a third source with knowledge of the situation, the former president has spoken privately over the past two months to ask whether supporting Dr. Oz in a Senate GOP contest was a mistake. Mehmet Oz defeated David McCormick, husband of former Trump administration official Dina Powell, in a grim primary that largely involved top-tier candidates trying to outdo each other while begging for Trump’s support. Were. His eventual blessing of Dr. Oz on McCormick angered various members of the GOP elite, Trumpland, and “America First” rank and file, who viewed Dr. Oz as a fake conservative or weak general-election contender.
And having already helped drag Dr. Oz to the finish line in that primary, Trump appears ready to try to do the same again as usual. Hours after this story published Friday, the former president announced that he would be traveling to Pennsylvania for a September 3 rally in support of Doug Maastriano, Dr. Oz, and – in his own self-obsessed words – “the whole Pennsylvania Trump ticket.” will do. ,
Dr. Oz’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone on Thursday. On Friday morning, Trump spokesman Taylor Budovich insisted that Trump thinks Dr. The idea that Oz will lose is “fake news.” Dr. Oz has been on the campaign trail working to champion the America First agenda and earn the support of every Pennsylvanian. In contrast, John Fetterman Destroy America. continue to advocate radical policies.
In the vital state of Pennsylvania, a potential Dr. Oz’s loss could contribute to a bid for Democrats to take over the US Senate in the mid-2022. It’s not lost on prominent Trump supporters that Republican institutions still blame the twice-impeached former president — and his obsession over 2020 voter “fraud” — for the Senate’s loss early last year. A redux of that mistake inspired by Trump this year could damage his self-proclaimed image as the most coveted endorsement in American politics today, as well as his status as the GOP’s ruling leader.
Another Trump adviser said, “The [former] president has used words like ‘cheesy,’ and ‘horrible,’ and ‘it doesn’t make sense.’ The former president at least twice since June Spoke to me. “It was weeks ago when [Trump] first started asking me and other people, ‘Is he going to lose?’ I’m positive I’m not the only one to tell him that he probably will, if nothing major changes happen.” Another source recently discussed Dr. Oz with Trump, says the former president predicted That the candidate will be defeated unless “he acts together,” the source said, explaining to Trump.
Dr. Oz has suffered a brutal series of self-inflicted wounds during the campaign.
This week, The Daily Beast reported that Dr. Oz, who claimed to own only two homes, owns 10 properties spread across New York, Florida and Turkey. The Fetterman campaign, which has sought to portray Oprah’s former guest star as a wealthy, out-of-touch outsider from New Jersey, captured the revelation, turning it into a day-long news cycle.