Republicans have been spending millions of dollars on a special election in a gerrymandered Tennessee district that Donald Trump won by 22 points in 2024.
Republicans are so worried about the election that Speaker Mike Johnson went there for a rally to try to boost the Republican candidate Matt Van Epps against Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn.
Recent polling revealed that Democrats are only trailing by two points and could be on the cusp of a massive upset victory.
One of the most interesting elements of this special election is that Trump currently has a net negative approval rating (-2) in a district that he carried by 22 points a year ago.
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Republicans are still treating Trump like he is an asset when it is clear that, even in red districts, he is now a liability.
Trump apparently didn’t have the health, stamina, or care to show in the district and rally Republicans in person, so he called Mike Johnson, who put him on speaker, as things went way off the rails.
Trump said:
Remember, he’s got a majority of three, a majority of three, and there aren’t many people can do that, but we, we have to win this. Yes, we’ve gotten you the largest tax cuts in history and the new bill, the great big, beautiful bill kicks in, as you know, on January 1st, hasn’t even kicked in yet.
And then you have no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. If you borrow money to buy a car, you get a deduction. That’s never happened before. All these things kick in on January 1st. A lot of people don’t know. They said, oh, they already kicked in. I said, no, it doesn’t start until January 1st.
So that was the first date. I just want to thank everybody. I love Tennessee, one of my all-time favorite places. Tennessee, I guess, loves me because we won by the biggest margins anybody’s ever won by, so that’s cool. But if you can go Matt Van Epps, he’s a winner. He’s gonna be great. Don’t let this stuff for you.
The Democrats are spending a fortune and we don’t want people that wanna raise your taxes. She wants to raise your taxes on top of everything else. But she said two things above all else that bothered me. Number one, she hates Christianity. Number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that?
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