President Ronald Reagan believed in a big-tent approach to the Republican Party and the conservative movement, famously saying that someone who agreed with him 80% of the time was an 80% ally rather than a 20% enemy. Donald Trump, on the other hand, tells Republicans who dare to disagree with him "Go fuck yourself" — which, according to CNN's Gabby Orr and the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, is what Trump had to say about Club For Growth President David McIntosh when McIntosh refused to withdraw attack ads slamming "Hillbilly Elegy" author and U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance.
In Ohio's 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary, Vance and former Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel have been fighting a bitter, ugly, mudslinging battle to show who is the most MAGA. Trump has endorsed Vance, who was a vehement critic of the former president back in 2016 but has since flip-flopped and is now running for the U.S. Senate as a devoted Trump sycophant and a far-right MAGA culture warrior. The equally far-right Mandel has attacked Vance as an insincere opportunist, arguing that he is only pretending to be MAGA.
