There is a lot of funny cope from Twitter "RINOs" (read: vote for every single Republican but like having liberal friends) whining about how this is actually Democrats'/Hogan's/whoever else's fault. Let me break it down here:
1. There is no hypocrisy from the Democratic perspective about boosting Cox. He would be a danger to democracy if elected, but he won't be elected, so the point is moot.
2. Hogan, and any other Republican for that matter, needs to deviate from Trump and the national party significantly to win in Maryland. It's just a fact. If that is incompatible with winning a primary, then tough, but there's no other route here short of avoiding the primary altogether.
3. Can we start treating Republican voters like they have agency? They have reasons for voting for the candidates they do, lol. The way people supposedly on their side talk about them is so infantilizing.
I've always found how such people treat Republican voters as not having any agency to be condescending, as though primary voters cannot discern which candidates are closest to their view and are expected to support a particular candidate. Even blaming Democratic spending seems misguided, as it shows that these establishment-favored candidates had underlying weaknesses with the base that was easy to exploit - and that they didn't make a strong case for themselves.
It seems like a poor excuse for the failure of political operatives and party elites to understand their party's voters.
Poll
