US Pre-election - Trump's "good Man" Is Losing

– Trump’s “Good Man” is losing

A week ago, Donald Trump celebrated triumph in Ohio. The first slip-up happened in Nebraska – Elon Musk gave him a gift for it.

Posted today at 07:49

The former president backed the wrong horse: cattle breeder Charles Herbster lost the governorate election he was aiming for.

Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images / AFP)

It was a strange ad that Charles Herbster flooded Nebraska television during key days of the campaign. The governor candidate only briefly appeared in the middle section. Before and after, only one could be seen and heard: Donald Trump. After nearly 30 seconds, he shut up with a blessing: “good man, very good person.”

So the Republican primaries in Nebraska were a plebiscite for bottom-up support for Donald Trump – because the other two Republican candidates, Jim Pillen and Brett Lindstrom, ran without his approval.

Trump backed the wrong horse, which quickly became clear on Tuesday night after polling stations closed. Herbster was far behind in third place, with Jim Pillen, a university official, pig farmer and party favorite from Nebraska, clearly in the lead.

Ultimately, the cattle breeder Herbster came in second – a clear failure. He backed the Trump charter when he failed to outdo his competitors in polls. Then he began drawing hope because Trump’s candidate JD Vance had clearly won in an extremely competitive election a week ago in Ohio. From then on, the Herbster campaign gave the impression that Trump himself was on the Nebraska list.

The women accused Herbster of being the attacker

As is well known, in the Trump world it has become unthinkable that he would lose elections, even those against the favorites. Trump now also suspects a conspiracy in Nebraska. In the midst of a fierce election campaign, eight women, including a Republican senator, credibly accused Trump’s “good man” of groping them. Trump rushed to aid Herbster with several rallies; in vain as it turned out now.

However, this local failure should not be over-interpreted as bad omen at the national level. Nebraska could only confirm the remnants of its special status: until the election of Barack Obama, politics here was considered boring. As the only US state, Nebraska has only one legislative house that promoted a consensus-oriented political culture in which Republicans and Democrats were not very different and worked together.

Donald Trump’s clear victory: MP Alex Mooney won the primary election in West Virginia.

Photo: Kevin Tester (AP / Keystone)

But this perfect world is history. With his provocative candidacy for the Trump course, Herbster shifted moderate pills to the right because he didn’t want to leave any sides. So suddenly the pills started picking on transgender athletes and Kulturkampf in schools.

In West Virginia, where the primary elections also took place on Tuesday, MP Alex Mooney, who is loyal to Trump, clearly won. Rejects moderate MP David McKinley after merging their constituencies. McKinley, who occasionally voted with the Democrats in Washington, lost so significantly that the Associated Press declared the race the winner right after the polls closed – a clear triumph for Donald Trump.

Elon Musk wants to bring Trump back on Twitter

Another gift prepared for former president Elon Musk on Tuesday. If Twitter is bought, Musk will welcome Donald Trump back to the platform. The company deleted Trump’s account two days after the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. “Trump kicking was not right,” Musk said at an event in the Financial Times. It was “morally wrong and just plain stupid.”

Trump will now dig into his own Truth Social platform, Musk criticized, and a large section of the US right will be debating him there: “This could be worse than one forum where everyone can have a say.” Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, CEO responsible for Trump’s expulsion, is now talking about the error. “It was a commercial decision and shouldn’t have been,” he told Axios news service.

The debate about how social media contributes to the spread of disinformation has only just begun.

The news hit the American media world like a bomb. Trump dictated the daily rhythm of US politics via Twitter, and the situation has calmed down considerably since its closure. Democrats all the more vehemently reject Trump’s return to the short message service.

That should also be a challenge for Musk: The debate on how social media and its algorithms contribute to the spread of disinformation has only just begun; Along with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Twitter has already banned a Trump member. And Trump will surely break all boundaries.

“All right America?” – American podcast from Tamedia
You can subscribe to a podcast from Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. If you’re using a different podcasting app, just search for “Are you alright America?”

Fabian Fellman He has been writing about political matters for over 20 years. Since the summer of 2021, the political scientist has been reporting from Washington as a US correspondent.