Even as the liberal mainstream media continue to attack President Trump and speculate about his impending defeat, a recently published poll shows that candidates aligned with Trump are seeing an upward tick. It appears that Democrats may again suffer a major case of cognitive dissonance when the Trump Train rolls victoriously into the station in November.
Two of the passengers on that train are Laura Loomer (shown, with campaign staff) and Byron Donalds. Each are running for hotly contested Congressional seats. Donalds — who has served in the Florida State Legislature since 2016, representing the 80th district in that state’s House of Representatives — is running for the 16th district U.S. Congressional seat in 2020. Loomer — who previously worked for Project Veritas exposing media bias and corruption — is running for Florida’s 21st Congressional seat against incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel, who has held that seat since 2013.
With their tickets proudly stamped MAGA, Loomer and Donalds have linked themselves to a president who has received more vitriol from the Left than any other president in this writer’s lifetime. Rather than hurt them, the MAGA affiliation is giving them both major boosts, according to a poll by Fredericksburg, Virginia, polling firm American Liberty Fund (ALF).
The poll, conducted July 17-23, shows that both Donalds and Loomer are gaining ground fast. In fact, the poll shows that in the primary race for the Republican nomination, Loomer is the runaway candidate, with 54 percent of GOP voters. None of her Republican primary competitors are anywhere near those numbers. Furthermore, as Big League Politics has reported, Loomer is positioned to defeat Frankel in November. Loomer enjoys a 35-percent favorable rating with an 11-percent unfavorable rating, while Frankel has a 23-percent favorable rating and a 37-percent unfavorable rating.
Loomer is certainly no establishment darling. The Wikipedia article on her describes her as “an American political activist, conspiracy theorist, and internet personality known for her far-right politics and commentary” and notes that she has been “banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Medium, GoFundMe, Venmo, MGM Resorts, PayPal, Lyft, Uber and Uber Eats” as well as “the March 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).” All of this may put her out of the running where the establishment is concerned, but legitimacy is in the eye of the beholder. That same list of “grievances” serves her well in MAGA country.
Likewise, Donalds is considered to be off the reservation where the establishment is concerned. He knows it and wears it proudly. In the video announcing his candidacy, he said, “I am everything the fake news media tells you doesn’t exist: a strong, Trump-supporting, gun-owning, liberty-loving, pro-life, politically-incorrect black man.”
Donalds has purposefully aligned himself with President Trump, both in words and actions, and it seems to be serving him well. “I was incredibly proud to stand with President Trump and work with him to deliver the president’s common-sense criminal justice reforms,” Donalds said in his video.
As FloridaPolitics reported, Donalds knows what it’s like to suffer as an underprivileged black youth — and the consequences of bad choices. From that report:
His personal biography elevated a personal reason to believe in second chances, mentioning his arrest in New York as a youth on drug possession charges. He was the child of a single mother, and considered the event a wake-up call.
“I knew I had to get my life together, and through the grace of God I did,” Donalds said in his ad.
And Donalds — like Loomer — is showing that a well-punched MAGA card is not a bad thing. According to the ALF poll, Donalds is trailing by a mere five percent and gaining ground every day. He is poised to take front-runner position soon and currently enjoys a 36-percent favorable rating in a primary contest against two opponents who are both self-funded. Part of his success with conservative voters is due to recent endorsements by the Club for Growth and the National Rifle Association. His high-profile MAGA status — appearing with President Trump and working with him on policy issues — has certainly also helped him.
The Florida primaries will take place on August 18, and it appears as if both Loomer and Donalds will move on to the general election, leaving establishment types in the dust to lick their wounds. If that indeed turns out to be the case, they will both likely fare well in the general elections and pull into the station in November aboard the Trump Train, much to the chagrin of their Democrat opponents.
Image: screenshot from YouTube video
C. Mitchell Shaw is a freelance writer and public speaker who addresses a range of topics related to liberty and the U.S. Constitution. A strong privacy advocate, he was a privacy nerd before it was cool.
