Mark Robinson is the end of Donald Trump's 2024 dreams

There is no avoiding the MAGA selection process

Being a MAGA elected candidate has its perks. You can be a convicted felon and still refuse to drop out of the race. You can talk about space lasers and still be called a MAGA firebrand. The latest addition to this list is making vile comments on a pornographic website and still having the courage to run for office.

The MAGA base only cares about defeating the enemy. Who needs a moral compass these days?

Despite trailing Democratic candidate Josh Stein by double digits and getting caught in a scandal, MAGA leader Mark Robinson refuses to drop out of North Carolina’s governor’s race. His own campaign staff resigned in protest, but even that didn’t convince Robinson to leave. Why would it? When you have a convicted felon running for the highest office in the country, how can you ask someone to drop out because of a scandal?

To be fair, Robinson didn’t get caught committing a crime or crossing a legal boundary. His campaign funds may dry up, if they haven’t already, which is the only thing I was sure would happen. Other than that, Donald Trump has created a structure within MAGA: do whatever you want, and if you get caught or scrutinized, just attack the other side. Now, everyone follows Trump’s guidelines.

Even GOP strategists would likely agree that North Carolina’s gubernatorial race has shifted decisively in favor of the Democrats. This will provide significant assistance for Kamala Harris to win the state. With 42 days before Election Day, Kamala Harris now has better odds of winning North Carolina than she does Arizona or Georgia.

The MAGA base celebrated after a national pollster showed Donald Trump with strong numbers in the Sunbelt states. I’m not interested in digging into their polls just yet. That can wait until November 6. For now, let’s go with the flow.

Even if Donald Trump somehow manages to win both Georgia and Arizona, two states where he remains competitive, he still won’t win the White House without North Carolina.

Fine. I have to accept the increasingly right-leaning or right-loving pollsters’ numbers. But I’m not supposed to believe the current numbers coming out of Pennsylvania? Okay, I’ll take the bait. I’ll knock Pennsylvania off the list.

Ouch! Please don’t show that right-wing pollster the map above — they’ll need to find a way to put Michigan back in Trump’s column. I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again: Donald Trump cannot win the presidency without North Carolina.

That state is likely to elect a Democrat as governor, and the presidential race there is neck-and-neck between Harris and Trump. Harris has a ground game, while Trump — and possibly even the RNC — lacks one, having outsourced one of their most critical responsibilities to outsiders.

Republican activists in swing states say they have seen little sign of the teams tasked with knocking on doors and turning out infrequent voters on behalf of Donald Trump, raising concerns about the party’s presidential nominee relying on outside groups for an important part of his campaign operations.

Trump and the Republican National Committee he controls opted to share get-out-the-vote duties in key parts of the most competitive states this year with groups such as America PAC, the organization supported by billionaire Elon Musk.

It is difficult to demonstrate that something is not happening. But with fewer than 50 days until the Nov. 5 election, dozens of Republican officials, activists and operatives in Michigan, North Carolina and other battleground states say they have rarely or never witnessed the group’s canvassers. In Arizona and Nevada, the Musk-backed political action committee replaced its door-knocking company just this past week.

It is extremely difficult to win North Carolina without a solid ground game, especially when the other side is making those investments and knocking on doors.

If white, college-educated men make a two-point swing toward Kamala Harris compared to 2020, it will mark the end of Donald Trump’s dreams. That is how close the race is and how important the ground game is in the state.