Vance Trumps Mandel, Gibbons, Timken: Darcy cartoon

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the Ohio Republican U.S. Senate primary, Josh Mandel, Mike Gibbons and Jane Timken made concerted efforts to promote first and foremost that they are “Pro Trump” hoping to win the former President and coup plotter’s endorsement, only to learn Trump is Pro Vance when he endorsed JD after having also endorsed Vladimir Putin as a “Genius” not a genocidal pariah.

Donald Trump Jr. had already been backing Vance, and will speak with him at a town hall type meeting this afternoon at the Independence Holiday Inn. Former President Trump will be holding a rally in Ohio this Saturday where Vance is expected to take center stage with him.

In his endorsement, the former president acknowledged that Vance is a former ‘Never Trumper’ who has seen the light, and not just from Trump’s tanning bed with the sign “Make America Orange Again.”

Vance’s former College roommate, Democratic Rep. Josh McLauric, shared a 2016 facebook message he got from Vance wondering if Trump is “America’s Hitler.”

“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”

Along with Vance’s full embrace of Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, Trump sees Vance as the Republicans best candidate to beat Tim Ryan in the general election. That is if Vance can even win the too crowded Republican primary. Trump believes his endorsement can push Vance over the top.

CNN politics reporter and Editor-at-Large, Chris Cillizza wrote that there is one word reason Trump endorsed Vance – “celebrity.” He said it’s also the sole reason Trump endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz.

With few exceptions, polls have been showing a close Senate primary race in Ohio, but with Vance most often trailing Mandel and Gibbons, and sometimes also Timken. One of the exceptions was a straw poll of attendees at the candidate forum in which Mandel got nose to nose with Gibbons, with the two nearly coming to blows and having to be separated. The polled audience had Vance winning that forum debate handily.

On paper the Republican primary is a 7 candidate race, with only 5 of them showing up on radar. With Mandel and Gibbons risking canceling each other out, is it really now just a three person race between Vance, Timken and Matt Dolan?

In the 2016 election, Trump proved his campaign instincts can be on the mark, as I also believe is his assessment of Vance being the Republicans best bet to beat Ryan in a tough race.

Even before Trump’s endorsement, if I were Ryan or his campaign manager, the two candidates I’d least like to contend against in the general election are Vance or Timken, in part because she has the endorsement of retiring Senator Rob Portman.

On Jan 30, 2022, this cartoon was first posted on Cleveland.com and published in The Plain Dealer after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed JD Vance, author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’

Mandel responded to Trump’s rejection with an ad showing Ted Cruz endorsing Mandel as he looks on next to him saying nothing. The two appear together side by side. But it also looks like they may have been digitally put together. Cruz could have actually been in Cancun talking with Mandel in Ohio.

Given Cruz’s crashing approval ratings, the ad is likely to lose Mandel as many votes as it would win him in the primary and a general election. The same goes for Vance being endorsed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

JD Vance has now won the junk food endorsements from Fruit Loop Marjorie Taylor Greene and Cheeto-Cheato Donald Trump, now he just has to come from behind to win the primary voters endorsement.

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