Trump Stuns GOP Allies with Bizarre Endorsement in Utah

I have never been a fan of jumping into primary races for an endorsement.

I would prefer that locals pick their man or woman, then back or not back that person in the general election.

Trump has regularly disregarded that line of thought, and after a recent primary endorsement, he has left a lot of members of the GOP shaking their heads in disbelief.

What Is Going on Here?

Donald Trump has made several primary endorsements that I have questioned already.

In fact, in one race, his endorsement caused the frontrunner to drop out with a massive lead in the race, making me wonder if Trump’s guy can actually win the general election since he was not going to win the primary.

That leads us to Trump endorsing Trent Staggs in the primary race for the seat currently held by Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT).

Currently, Utah State House Speaker Brad Wilson, Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), Jason Walton, and Trent Staggs are all running.

Curtis is comfortably in the lead in the primary race, dominating runner-up Wilson by 29 points.

Staggs is barely registering, which has confused people as to why Trump would endorse him unless Trump plans on spending a lot of time in Utah on his behalf.

To that point, a local GOP operative stated, “Everyone knows this is Curtis’ race to lose.

“Staggs has to pitch a perfect game to win. … [Trump’s team] has to take a real interest in this seat for it to not fold over to Curtis.”

It will be interesting to see what happens if Curtis wins the nod because there is clearly friction between these two camps.

Curtis has never supported Trump’s campaign and his wife is a big Nikki Haley supporter.

I just think that Trump would have been better off staying out of this race and if the nod goes to someone he does not like, don’t campaign against them, just don’t endorse them.

This is a major Senate seat that the GOP plans to win, so if they lose this election, with the moves that Trump has made, you better believe people will be blaming him if the seat suddenly turns blue.