According to Politico Playbook on Wednesday, things are really, really bad for the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas. To support their claim of disaster for that convention, the Politico team of Adam Wren, Dasha Burns, Will Steakin, and Megan Messerly cited — wait for it —conveniently unnamed sources to back up their premise of doom and gloom.
The unnamed sources made their invisible cameos in “‘The vibes are very bad’ in Texas,’” only to immediately disappear into the political ether to avoid anything resembling a fact check of their whispered claims:
DALLAS — Republicans’ Trump-a-palooza threatens to put the party’s general-election headaches on blast, with candidates finding new ways to keep their distance from President Donald Trump over fears he’ll drag them down in November.
On the ground in Dallas, the early reports aren’t giving Republicans a ton of hope for a turnaround.
Stand by for the unnamed source swarm!
“The vibes are very bad,” a Republican lobbyist close to the White House who attended an RNC donor event at the Ritz Carlton last night told us. “Dems are salivating. Our people are debating Israel. Or melting down about this or that. No one is motivated to vote. Only the DSA rise is what’s keeping us in the game.”
Oooh! Oooh! Bad vibes according to the UNNAMED Republican lobbyist. Can we have another such opinion for an equally unknown source?
For those coming to Texas this week, trepidation reigns about what could transpire on the stage — and what it might mean for lawmakers back home.
In fact, as a person close to the White House told Playbook, the best case scenario might be people tuning out.
“My only hope is that no one watches it since it’s competing versus NFL opening games,” the person said. “Hopefully nobody notices the embarrassing show.”
This person added: “I don’t think it will matter. No one knows about it, no enthusiasm, and it’s during football. Only D.C. people care.”
Eeek! An UNNAMED “person close to the White House” has also hopped aboard the disaster train.
But wait! We finally have a name. Hallelujah, we finally have a real name:
Eric Flores, who’s running in Texas’ swingy 34th District to unseat Democratic incumbent Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, illustrates the delicate dance that’ll be on display in Dallas. Trump carried Texas’ 34th in 2024, but this year Flores has removed “Trump Endorsed” and “Republican” from his campaign signs following his primary election. (See the before and after.) But Flores is also slated to speak at the convention Thursday.
A spokesperson for Flores noted he had the president’s endorsement pinned on X and still listed on his website — and has used five different sign designs across the district.
Gasp! So a candidate who is running in a swing district emphasized his GOP credentials during the primary election but deemphasized it during the general election? Isn't that pretty much standard procedure by both political parties in swing districts? And yet, Politico somehow interprets this as a rejection of Trump.
Politico itself undermined its premise that Flores was somehow rejecting the Republicans and their midterm convention with this observation: “But Flores is also slated to speak at the convention Thursday.”
Finally, Politico performed an unnamed-sources encore with this flurry of perfectly aligned downbeat inputs from unknown “GOP operatives and strategists”:
More than a dozen GOP operatives and strategists told Playbook’s Megan Messerly and POLITICO’s Alex Gangitano that Trump’s speeches tonight and tomorrow must refrain from reflecting pools and helipads and instead focus on slamming socialism and making the argument that — despite persistent pocketbook concerns among voters — the economy is in better hands with Republicans.
