Sleight of hand

The popular course in the modern political arena is to move to the fringe to win the primary, which is normally a partisan affair, and to move back to the center in a general election.

Martha McSally

In this way a candidate hopes to appeal to the large block of undecided and independent voters who might be put off by the ardent ideology of the base.

Good candidates are adept at disguising their true convictions in applying this type of bait and switch and it is practically a political necessity in this day and age.

Trump, like in so many other areas, has turned this political calculus on its ear. Rightly or wrongly, he is doubling down on his base and even talking about a red wave in the midterms. He has made no attempts to broaden his electorate.

History will tell if he is correct or not. Looks suicidal to me but hey, I have been wrong many times before.

This approach does put Republican candidates in a serious quandary. Pandering to the base might just alienate the middle.

Non Trump aligned office seekers got whomped in the primaries. This caused semi moderate members of the GOP to align themselves with their orange standard bearer. Witness the Senatorial race in Arizona, which now has three ardent pro -Trump candidates running against each other since McSally hardened her message and moved right. Build a wall, repel the invading immigrant armies.

What a murderer's row; Arpaio, Ward and McSally. Arizona, love the landscape can't stand the politics. Of course, I am a liberal, godless Californian and they can't stand me either.

In any case, it will be a crucible experience for the nominally more moderate candidates like McSally to try to explain their affiliation and newfound allegiance with Trump and his hardline positions in a general election. Especially if you are running in a district with a high Latino population. The "murdering, rapist criminals with calves the size of cantaloupes." That will be a gymnastic act.