‘Box office poison’: Trump told voters more than 40 times, ‘Pretend I’m on the ballot.’ They did
President Donald Trump spent two months urging Americans to pretend he was on the ballot. On Tuesday, they did just that.
Voters delivered a stunning rebuke to Trump’s party that rivaled anything Republicans had suffered in 50 years, defeats on ruby-red turf that Trump won handily just two years ago, where he has dominated politics for nearly a decade and against candidates he had in some cases handpicked.
Not only did Democrats flip Senate and governor seats in red states, but at times by eye-popping margins.
“The message is very clear and very simple here. It was a complete repudiation of the party as defined by Donald Trump,” said Mike Murphy, a Los Angeles-based Republican consultant who worked for candidates in the pre-Trump GOP, including Jeb Bush and John McCain.
“We have a little saying in show business, ‘box office poison,’ and that’s what Donald Trump has become.”
More than 41 times in recent weeks, The Washington Post found, Trump told voters to act this November as if the midterms were a referendum on him — a bold dare for a president whose approval ratings had reached historic lows as a growing number of Americans reported opposing his policies and his behavior in office. [Continue reading…]