Trump’s campaign schedule, described to me as “busy,” involved 11 events
over the course of the month. One event was the announcement itself.
Five events took place at Mar-a-Lago. Four events were not events at all
but taped videos that were aired at events where Trump was not
physically present. The endorsements were just as impressive: Kari Lake,
Matt Gaetz, Elise Stefanik, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Max
Miller, the New York Young Republicans, the Texas agriculture
commissioner. The most high-profile Trump-endorsed candidate to win in
the midterms, J. D. Vance, was not on this list. Neither was Trump’s
former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now governor-elect of
Arkansas. I asked her why she hadn’t endorsed him. She didn’t respond.