Aug 14, 2026 · 12 min
Trump-backed candidates lose as Republican loyalty shows strain
Out of Control
Two primary defeats give Heather Cox Richardson a concrete test of whether Donald Trump still commands Republican voters as reliably as before.
- 1Mike Lindell’s Minnesota gubernatorial primary defeat and Andy Ogles’s Tennessee loss both came despite Trump’s endorsements.
- 2The episode connects those setbacks to broader questions about Trump’s approval, political isolation, and recent policy difficulties.
- 3Richardson frames the losses as evidence that Republican voters may be separating their views of Trump from their views of the party.
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Mike Lindell’s defeat in Minnesota, paired with Andy Ogles’s earlier loss, becomes the episode’s clearest evidence that Trump’s endorsements may be weakening.
The brief
Heather Cox Richardson opens with Mike Lindell’s defeat in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary and Andy Ogles’s earlier loss in Tennessee, both after Trump endorsed them.
The results challenge Trump’s claim that Republican voters are angry with the party rather than with him, because his preferred candidates failed in separate primaries.
Richardson places the defeats alongside concerns about Trump’s declining approval, health, foreign-policy setbacks, shrinking inner circle, military conditions, and costly White House projects.
The episode’s central tension is whether Trump’s influence remains durable when Republican voters encounter candidates, conditions, and controversies tied directly to his leadership.
The clearest test is the paired primary losses: Lindell and Ogles turn an abstract question about Trump’s influence into a measurable political setback.
Donald John Trump
Mike Lindell
Andy OglesListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.