President Donald Trump has issued a bizarre excuse for a humiliating run of primary losses by candidates with his personal endorsement.
Trump, 80, claims to have the Midas touch when it comes to anointing Republican candidates.
“My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot,” he posted on Truth Social in March.
This primary season, however, multiple Republican candidates endorsed by Trump lost out despite him urging his 13 million Truth Social followers to follow his voting directions.
In Minnesota, Trump conspiracy theorist and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell came up well short in his bid for governor, while in Florida incumbent Rep. Cory Mills lost by double digits to former news anchor Ryan Elijah, despite an early Trump endorsement.
Another high-profile candidate endorsed by Trump, Darline Graham, did not have enough votes to avoid a run-off against rival Republican Ralph Norman in the special election called after the death of Lindsey Graham, her older brother and a close ally of the president.
“My Endorsements are getting stronger than ever,” Trump claimed in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening, before attempting to add a positive spin: “Not to mention the fact that good people are getting elected that never had the chance.”
The octogenarian president then shared three graphs he said proved his point, claiming that 97 percent of all candidates he has endorsed in Republican primaries have won this year. That figure roughly tallies with Ballotpedia’s results.
Then came his excuse: “The few that lost were done out of loyalty. It was almost impossible for them to win but, I felt obligated to go with them because they were, in my opinion, good people!”
Trump already attempted to walk back his endorsement of his friend Mills after his loss, and quickly switched his support to Elijah.
“I told Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a friend of mine, to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen. He thought he could win, so who can blame him? We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place,” Trump posted on Wednesday morning, the day after the embarrassing loss.
Iraq War veteran Mills, 46, saw his re-election bid marred after an alleged physical assault of a woman in Washington, D.C., in February 2025. An arrest warrant for Mills from the Metropolitan Police Department to interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin’s office wasn’t signed, NBC News reported. Mills has denied wrongdoing.
Mills was also in the news last year for allegedly threatening to leak sexual videos of ex-girlfriend Lindsey Langston. A judge then issued Mills a restraining order. He is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
Other Trump-endorsed losers this year include Megan Degenfelder, Montana’s superintendent of public instruction, and far-right Rep. Andy Ogles, who lost to former state agriculture chief Charlie Hatcher in Tennessee.
A last-minute endorsement of the president’s former Commerce Department appointee Catalina Lauf did not protect her from losing in Florida’s 19th District to local media mogul Jim Schwartzel.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said: “President Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics. Anyone claiming otherwise is a complete and utter fool.”
