President Donald Trump is hoping to exert enormous influence on Indiana’s primary election on Tuesday as part of a “revenge” campaign against defiant Republican state lawmakers, but early indicators suggest that the effort may have already landed with a thud.
Last year, Trump pushed hard for Indiana state Republicans to redraw their congressional district map in a way that would benefit the GOP, much as he successfully did in Texas. Trump’s efforts were met with “stiff” opposition, however, leading Trump and his allies to launch a multimillion-dollar “revenge campaign” to oust the GOP lawmakers who defied him.
That campaign got underway last week on Wednesday when the conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA set up a “get-out-the-vote operation” for a Trump-backed candidate challenging Republican state Sen. Greg Good, who was placed on the “president’s revenge list.”
“They had lawn signs and fliers. A Spotify playlist titled ‘Trump Rally’ blared on a speaker at the outdoor Fairbanks Park amphitheater on the banks of the Wabash River,” reads a report from NOTUS published on Monday. The event, however, failed to generate the enthusiasm that Trump and his allies were likely hoping for. “Four people showed up, three of whom were part of the same family,” NOTUS reported.