Opinion | Donald Trump has gone from cult leader to weather vane

This is remarkable for a man who transformed his once-Cold Warrior party into a band of Russian apologists and appeasers. By mouthing Russian propaganda to justify its invasion of Crimea and siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials that his country interfered in the 2016 election, Trump managed to turn the party that once called the Soviet Union the “evil empire” into one that rationalized murder of Russian journalists. (“I think our country does plenty of killing also,” he insisted.) The party even acquitted Trump for extorting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But since Trump has left office, the party has rushed to get on the side of democracy and the cause of Ukrainian freedom. For a time, Trump continued his praise of Putin as “savvy” and “a genius,” but eventually he managed to get in sync with bipartisan consensus. As he said at an event in South Carolina this month, “The U.S. must make clear to Putin that he has two choices: To negotiate peace right now or face blistering consequences, including a push to permanently eliminate dependence on Russian energy.” Now, he’s even suggesting the United States deploy nuclear submarines to menace Russia.

Trump’s desperation to get ahead of the crowd on the major foreign policy issue of our time is palpable. He knows he cannot compel Republicans to embrace Putin. Rather than fight the party and risk being shunned, he meekly falls in line with its hard-line, anti-Russia stance.

On the midterm front, Trump is also risking irrelevance. He picked a slew of questionable candidates with sketchy backgrounds, such as Sean Parnell, who dropped out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary after domestic abuse allegations. He also endorsed Herschel Walker for Georgia’s Senate primary, despite serious questions about his business background and alleged history of violent behavior. Walker, who hides from debates, regularly makes news for his scandals and gaffes.

Then there’s Freedom Caucus extremist Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), whom Trump backed for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. But Brooks has fallen well behind, and Trump doesn’t want to be on the losing side, so he pulled his endorsement on Wednesday. Trump’s thin excuse is that Brooks no longer wants to talk about the 2020 election.

An endorsement doesn’t have much meaning if it comes with a caveat that the candidate must win. Once politicians have made their bets on a candidate, they generally are obliged to stick with them, taking a hit if their person falters. Not Trump. Like the March Madness fan who redoes his bracket when his favorite team loses, Trump cannot tolerate the perception that he has lost his political chops.

Trump has also started choosing safe winners to get his batting average up. For North Dakota’s Senate race, he went with incumbent Republican John Hoeven rather than the MAGA challenger Rick Becker, a state legislator.

The move did not go unnoticed. Local opinion writer Rob Port explains in the Dickinson Press that Becker “pandered to 2020 election conspiracies” and “called for mass arrests of the supposed ‘deep state’ while his Trumpy supporters called for executions.” So why go with the establishment candidate? “It’s easy. Trump looked at certain political realities in North Dakota, and picked the person he thought would win,” Port writes. “Trump’s midterm endorsements have not been going well. He’s endorsed a lot of candidates, and if a lot of them lose, it will shatter his reputation as Republican kingmaker.” This is the equivalent of “going chalk” — picking the ranked favorite in every match in a tournament.

Trump is now reduced to the role of a delinquent follower in a party that is straining to run in the midterms on something other than his grievances about 2020. No longer the trendsetter or the kingmaker, Trump is now simply another GOP opportunist with a fragile ego.