This was Donald Trump at a May 6 rallyin Greensburg, Pennsylvania, looking to sell Republican voters on Mehmet Oz,the celebrity surgeon he has endorsed for Senate.
“Dr Oz has had an enormously successfulcareer on TV,” reasoned Trump, “and now he’s running to save our country.”
As political pitches go, this one maysound vague and vacuous and more than a tad creepy. But Trump was simplycutting to the heart of the matter. Oz’s chief political asset — arguably hissingular asset in this race — is his celebrity. Beyond that, it is hard toimagine why anyone would consider him for the job, much less take himseriously.
By championing the good doctor, Trump isputting his faith in the political value of celebrity to its purest test yet.Upping the drama are signs that the move could backfire. In recent days, therehas been a grassroots surge by another candidate in the Republican primaryTuesday, Kathy Barnette, a hard-right gun-rights champion, abortion foe, mediacommentator and Fox News guest seen as harnessing conservative unease andannoyance over Trump’s Oz endorsement.
The bomb-throwing Barnette has made therace even more chaotic and is freaking out some Republicans — including Trump.“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the general election,” he assertedThursday, citing “many things in her past which have not been properly explainedor vetted.” Doubling down on Oz, Trump insisted that “a vote for anyone else inthe primary is a vote against victory in the fall!”
The decision to go all in on Oz tellsyou much about Trump’s view of what makes a worthy candidate — and maybe evenmore about his vision for the Republican Party.
It is hard to overstate the importanceof the Pennsylvania Senate contest. The seat being vacated by Pat Toomey, aRepublican, is widely considered the Democrats’ best hope for a pickup inNovember, making the race crucial in the brawl for control of the Senate, nowsplit 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting tiebreaking votes.
Oz drifted into the Republican battlelast fall, just over a week after Trump’s first endorsee, Sean Parnell, bowedout following accusations of abuse from his estranged wife. There were otherRepublican contenders happy to debase themselves in pursuit of Trump’sblessing, most notably David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive and Bushadministration official. But Trump — surprise! — ultimately went with thesycophant who was also a television star. That really is his sweet spot.
“You know when you’re in television for18 years, that’s like a poll,” Trump has explained of his decision. “That meanspeople like you.”
Even after Trump’s endorsement, the racehas remained tight. At the Greensburg rally, some in the crowd repeatedly booedthe mention of Oz. Many had questions about his authenticity and values — or,more basically, what the heck a longtime Jersey guy is doing in their state.
Anyone who takes public service andleadership seriously should be troubled by Oz’s glaring lack of experience inor knowledge of policy, government and so on. That, sadly, applies to a fewpeople in today’s Republican Party, which regards experience, expertise andscience as a steaming pile of elitist hooey.
Even more disturbing may be Oz’sdevolution from a highly regarded, award-winning cardiothoracic surgeon to asnake-oil peddling TV huckster. Before this race, his closest involvement withthe Senate was when he was called before a panel in 2014 to testify about thesketchy weight-loss products he had been hawking on his show.
Then again, Republicans elected ashameless TV huckster to the presidency. This clearly isn’t a deal breaker forthem.
But MAGA world has its own concernsabout Oz. For starters, his Turkish heritage — he holds dual citizenship andtrained in the Turkish army — has put him crosswise to the Republican Party’sascendant nativism. His primary opponents and their supporters have suggestedhis Turkish ties make him a national security risk. Mike Pompeo, Trump’s formersecretary of state and CIA director, has said Oz owes voters a clear sense ofthe “scope and the depth of his relationship with the Turkish government.”
The fact that Oz is a Muslim alsodisquiets some in the party.
In combating suspicions that he is anoutsider, it does not help that Oz doesn’t have deep ties to Pennsylvania. Helived in New Jersey for decades, and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that heused his in-laws’ address to register to vote in Pennsylvania in 2020.
As for his values, over the years Oz hascommitted numerous conservative heresies: pointing out the scientificinaccuracy of some fetal-heartbeat bills; discussing transgender kids insomething other than horrified, apocalyptic terms; promoting Obamacare;acknowledging systemic racism. He has repeatedly come across as squishy on gunrights. Perhaps worst of all, he had Michelle Obama as a guest on his show. Andhe was nice to her! This has all made great fodder for his primary opponents.
Not that such messy details matter. ForTrump, Oz’s lack of political and policy chops — or even firm principles — is afeature, not a bug. The fewer established positions or values that a candidateholds, the easier it is for Trump to bend him to his will.
In fact, Trump can only be delighted atthe cringe-inducing desperation with which Oz has been refashioning himselfinto a MAGA man. The campaign ad of the candidate talking tough and playingwith guns is particularly excruciating.
For Trump, the perfect politicalcandidate is one who has no strongly held views of his own. Whether candidatesare in touch with the needs and values of their constituencies is of nointerest — and could, in fact, be an inconvenience. Trump clearly prefers anationalised Republican Party populated by minions willing to blindly followorders in his unholy crusade for political restoration and vengeance.
In part, Pennsylvania Republicans willbe choosing between someone like Barnette, whose candidacy is focused on her(extreme and somewhat terrifying) beliefs and someone like Oz, whose candidacyis all about his personal fame — and his dependence on Trump.
“When you’re a star, they let you doit,” Trump once vilely bragged of his penchant for groping women. “You can doanything.”
What the former president values thesedays in Republican candidates are stars willing to let him do anything hewants.
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