Donald Trump Jr. Throws Trump-Allied Kentucky Governor Under the Bus After Loss

The last time Donald Trump Jr. tried to do damage control for his father's administration on Fox News, he obliviously complained about how easy it was for Hunter Biden to cash in on having a well-connected father. Talking to Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night, he addressed another pending embarrassment for his father: Matt Bevin, Kentucky's Republican governor and a relentless Trump supporter, looked like he was in serious trouble in his reelection bid, with results at the time too close to call between him and his Democratic challenger, the state's Attorney General Andy Beshear.

Ingraham tried to soft-pedal talking points for Trump Jr. ("he ran against a family that is LEGENDARY—the Beshear family!"), pointing out, rightfully, that Bevin was one of the most unpopular governors in the country. Trump Jr. ran with it, adding that Republicans had won other state-wide offices even as the party's hold on the governor's seat looked more and more out of reach, saying "Trump helped propel those guys to those places." Without pausing for breath, he added, "I like Matt Bevin, he's a friend of mine, he's been a good guy, but he's picked a lot of battles, teed off on a lot of people in Kentucky, that's not always popular, we understand how that works, but they won't give Trump the credit for that."

"This has nothing to do with Trump," he stressed.

Bevin did seem to go out of his way to make unnecessary enemies in Kentucky. He went after public school teachers, claiming that teachers should be held responsible for any kids who might be sexually abused during the massive strikes in 2017. Still, the Trump administration worked hard to keep Bevin in office. The White House dispensed Mike Pence to campaign for Bevin in the week before the election. On Twitter, Trump called on his supports to get out the vote, saying, "Matt has been a GREAT Governor. Kentucky (I Love You!), please be sure to vote for Matt Bevin on TUESDAY. Matt will never let you down, and we have to send a strong signal to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left Democrats." He even hosted a rally on Monday night in support of Bevin, where he told the crowd it was imperative they vote because it would look terrible if Bevin lost. "It sends a really bad message. And they will build it up. Here's the story, if you win, they're gonna make it like, 'ho hum.' And if you lose, they're gonna say, 'Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world.' You can't let that happen to me!" he said at the rally. Beshear won Lexington, where Trump hosted his rally, with 65 percent of the vote, nearly doubling Bevins's 33 percent.

Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel also tried to spin some of the more disappointing results, tweeting, "No one energizes our base like @realDonaldTrump. In Kentucky, the governor was down 17 points. President Trump helped lift the entire ticket, winning 5 of 6 statewide races so far!" It's not clear when Bevin was down by 17 points. The poll aggregator Real Clear Politics shows the Beshear's biggest lead by eight points. In fact, Trafalgar Group, one of the few polling companies to predict Trump's victory in 2016, published a poll days before Trump's Kentucky rally that found Bevin led Beshear by a little over five points.

Like Trump Jr., McDaniel also tried to frame the gubernatorial race in deep-red Mississippi—a state the president won by 17 points in 2016—as a sign of Trump's strength. McDaniel wrote, "Congratulations @tatereeves on being elected Governor of Mississippi! Reeves was down double-digits, but @realDonaldTrump came in big with his endorsement and rally, putting him over the top. A huge win for the President and our Party!"

Republican Tate Reeves did win the election to become the next governor of Mississippi, but, again, it's not clear what pre-Trump endorsement poll had him losing by a double-digit margin. According to RealClearPolitics, at no point did Democrat Jim Hood ever lead Reeves by more than six points. And that the Mississippi governorship would remain Republican is not exactly a bell-weather swing state win.

But the GOP needs to find some way to claim victory going into 2020, and the results from Tuesday generally don't look good for them. Democrats retook the entire state legislature in Virginia for the first time in 25 years—a huge loss for Republicans as it gives Democrats the chance to undo years of partisan gerrymandering in the state. And Kentucky, like Mississippi, is supposed to be a safe space for the party. That Trump's endorsement couldn't secure a clear win for Bevin there isn't a good sign for other vulnerable, Trump-allied Republicans up for reelection next year.

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Originally Appeared on GQ