President Donald Trump made his first major foray into the 2022 battle for the Senate on Wednesday, endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks to succeed Sen. Richard C. Shelby in Alabama — a major boost for a candidate who has operated on the rightmost edge of the Republican Party and who emerged last year as one of the foremost promoters of Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.
Trump’s move could pose a dilemma for Senate Republican leaders who will have to choose whether they want to try to stop the ascension of the conservative firebrand or support his candidacy as part of their embrace of the former president’s brand of populism that increasingly defines the party.
“Few Republicans have as much COURAGE and FIGHT” as Brooks, Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America super PAC. “Mo is a great Conservative Republican leader, who will stand up for America First no matter what obstacles the Fake News Media, RINOs, or Socialist Democrats may place in his path.” Continue reading.