It was an odd commercial that Charles Herbster flooded Nebraska television with during the crucial days of the campaign. True, the candidate for the governorship had his brief appearance in it. Before and after that, however, only one person could be seen and heard: Donald Trump. It ended after almost 30 seconds with a blessing for the candidate: “a good man, a very good man”.
The primary among the Republicans in Nebraska was therefore a plebiscite about Donald Trump’s support in the party – because the other two Republicans in the race, Jim Pillen and Brett Lindstrom, ran without his seal of approval.
Trump was on the wrong horse, as quickly became apparent on Tuesday evening after the polling stations closed their doors. Herbster was a long way behind the competition in third place, with Jim Pillen, varsity official, hog farmer and favorite of the Nebraska party establishment, clearly ahead.
In the end, Herbster, a cattle breeder, ended up in second place, a clear defeat. He had backed the Trump card when he failed to outperform his competitors in the polls. Then he drew hope when a week ago in Ohio, Trump’s candidate JD Vance clearly prevailed in an extraordinarily competitive election. From then on, Herbster’s campaign gave the impression that Trump himself was on the list in Nebraska.
Women accused him of being a groper
In the Trump world, as is well known, it has now become unthinkable that he or one of his minions would lose an election. Trump now also suspects a conspiracy in Nebraska. In the middle of the hard-fought election campaign, eight women, including a Republican senator, had credibly accused Trump’s “good man” of groping her. Trump rushed to help Herbster with several rallies; in vain, as it has now turned out.
However, this local defeat should not be over-interpreted as a sign of Trump’s weakness at the national level. Nebraska may have merely confirmed a remnant of its special status: Up until the election of Barack Obama, politics here was considered boring. As the only US state, Nebraska has only one chamber of legislature, which encouraged a consensus-oriented political culture in which Republicans and Democrats did not differ too much and worked together. But that ideal world is now over. With his provocative Trump course, the candidate Herbster also pulled the moderate pills to the right because he didn’t want to leave any flanks open. So all of a sudden, pills started picking on transgender athletes and the Kulturkampf in schools.
Success for Trump in West Virginia
In West Virginia, where primaries were also held on Tuesday, MP Alex Mooney, who is loyal to Trump, clearly prevailed. With David McKinley, he is ousting a moderate MP. McKinley, who had sometimes voted with the Democrats in Washington, lost so significantly that the Associated Press news agency declared the race decided shortly after the polls closed – a clear triumph for Donald Trump.
Another gift prepared for the ex-president on Tuesday Elon Musk. If Twitter succeeds, Musk will welcome Donald Trump back to the social media platform. Twitter had deleted Trump’s account two days after the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. “It wasn’t right to kick Trump out,” Musk said at an event Financial Times. That was “morally wrong and just plain stupid”.
Trump will now entrench himself on his own platform, Truth Social, Musk criticized, and a large part of the American right will debate with him there: “So that could be worse than a single forum in which everyone can have a say.” Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, the CEO responsible for Trump’s expulsion, is now talking about a mistake. “It was a commercial decision and it shouldn’t have been,” he told the US news website Axios.
The news hit the American media world like a bomb. Trump dictated the daily rhythm of American politics via Twitter, and things have calmed down significantly since he was kicked out. The Democrats are all the more resolute in rejecting Trump’s return on Twitter. This should also be a challenge for Musk: The debate about how social media and their algorithms contribute to the spread of disinformation is becoming increasingly heated. Earlier this year, Twitter banned Marjorie Taylor Greene, a strapping Trump MP. And Trump himself, should he return, will certainly test all boundaries.