You likely saw outrage on the part of Trump-supporting accounts, if you had jumped onto social media. Who was it they were mad at, and what did this person do?
Reactions resulted from Dr. Mehmet Oz, who recently won the GOP primary in Pennsylvania and appeared to throw Donald Trump off his feet, at the least regarding his campaign strategy.
Mitt Lite has already turned his back on America First.
The best way to get there @seanhannity!!
Please keep these endorsements coming. https://t.co/LyBFestB1r
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) June 22, 2022
Oz seems to have stopped using Trump’s name on Twitter, and has removed his profile banner. He has also taken Trump off his website’s home page and stopped running ads that feature him and Trump together.
According to a Tuesday report from Axios, Trump was a “near-ubiquitous fixture” in the Oz campaign’s advertisements, with a series of issue-centered videos about gun rights, abortion, and energy beginning with the phrase “endorsed by President Trump.” On social media, Oz’s cover photo was a banner image of himself alongside Trump, his Twitter account “mentioned Trump more than 70 times,” and his team ran Trump-centered ads on Google and Facebook.
However, according to Axios, Oz has not mentioned Trump on Twitter since May 17 — the day of the Republican primary. The cover photo now says, “Thank you, Pennsylvania” on a solo photo of the candidate, and the website no longer features a pop-up fundraiser window featuring Trump. Oz has also stopped running Trump ads on Facebook and Google, according to reports.
But unlike those who are taking this as some kind of betrayal, I just don’t think it’s a big deal. Oz’s goal right now is to win his election, right? He can win his election by getting to the centre in extremely purple states. Regardless of how one feels about Trump, he’s a polarizing figure. There’s little to be gained by Oz continuing to go back to that well during the general election. No one can fault Oz for becoming his own man.
I say that as someone who didn’t support Oz in his primary because I think he’s a Democrat who changed almost every position he holds over just a couple of years’ time. But instead of trying to dunk and saying “See? I told you so,” I actually think Oz’s shift here is normal and reasonable. The goal is not to make Trump the centerpiece, but win.
John Fetterman, Oz’s Democrat opposition, is a far-left radical, but he plays the “moderate everyman” role pretty well. Oz made a wise decision in expanding his appeal. Trump’s big-time supporters already support him. Now, he’s got to make inroads in the Philly suburbs, and the former president doesn’t help in those areas.
Trump may be okay with the change of strategy. There’s no doubt he wants his endorsees to go on and win their general elections. If they don’t, it comes back as an indictment of his judgment. I’d also bet that Trump will hold at least one more rally for Oz before this is all over.
In short, no, Oz has not “turned on America First.” He’s just trying to win his election. Perhaps he will ultimately betray GOP voters, but that’s not something that we’ll know until he actually enters the Senate. We can then get a sense of his style and how he intends to govern.
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