I’ve been laughing at President Donald Trump’s idiotic midterm political convention for several months now (here and here).

In short, Trump wants to make the midterm elections about himself, because of course he does. He wants to be onstage, humping an American flag, with the cameras rolling and his crowds looking on adoringly.

Never mind all the people actually running for office. He doesn’t care about them, and not a single Republican in even a vaguely competitive race will want to be seen anywhere near their toxic and deeply unpopular president.

And if they lose, it certainly won’t be his fault, will it? After all, he won … all the way back in 2024.

While most Republicans likely wish he’d forget about the whole thing, distracted perhaps by an askew helipad or ungilded statue, he most certainly has not. And to add injury to insult, he won’t even tap into his precious super PAC war chest to pay for it. (Trump claims he has $850 million, but he lies a lot. It’s at least $480 million.)

“President Trump announced last month that Republicans would hold the first-ever midterm convention in September, promising ‘lots of Great Entertainment’ and ‘a RALLY like none other,’” reported Puck News in their email newsletter:

“Yet, it’s turned into a ‘shit show,’ said one G.O.P. campaign strategist, and few lawmakers want to go. For starters, the National Republican Campaign Committee is asking House members to cough up $25,000 for themselves and a guest to attend the two-day convention in Dallas, according to three people who have reviewed the invitation. And that’s the cheap rate, with the highest tier asking for $100,000 from lawmakers.”

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Trump wants them to pay for their own execution!

And it somehow gets even better:

“[W]ith no party business being conducted (as would be typical at a presidential nominating convention) and poor planning (invitations were sent in the last several weeks, way after lawmakers had already committed to other events), campaign strategists are seething that it’s little more than a fundraiser for an unnecessary Trump production, at a time when some swing-district lawmakers aren’t exactly clamoring to be associated with the president,” Puck further noted. “‘It’s yet another opportunity to shake down corporate America,’ said one Republican strategist. Added the campaign strategist: ‘Nobody understands why we’re doing a midterm convention. It’s just another show that Trump is going to put on to remind the voters that he is sitting there, and maybe they don’t want to be reminded of that.’”

That last line is their biggest problem.

Republicans desperately need the midterms to be about anything other than Donald Trump. Trump desperately needs everything to be about Donald Trump.

And he’s making them pay for the privilege.

We know Trump has somewhere between $480 million and $850 million socked away, yet he hasn’t spent much of it helping Republicans—just $17,901 in a Georgia House race and $560,000 to defeat a member of his own party, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

So why does he need to raise even more money that he apparently has little interest in spending to elect Republicans?

Because he’s a grifter first and foremost, and you better believe he’ll find a way to use all that donor money on himself, just like he thinks he’s keeping Qatari Force One after he leaves office.

The best part is that Republicans will find excuses to avoid the convention and distance themselves from him. Trump, being Trump, will notice. And then he’ll react with his typical fury, publicly attacking the very Republicans whose seats he is supposedly trying to save.

Show up, and they get photographed next to a hated president blabbing about how $4 gas is “okay” and that affordability is a “hoax” that Democrats invented.

Stay away, and they become the target of that deeply vindictive unpopular president.

They’re trapped in a no-win situation entirely of Trump’s making. And it couldn’t be happening to a worse bunch of people.

Markos Moulitsas is founder and editor of the blogging website Daily Kos and author of three books.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Show up, and they get photographed next to a hated president blabbing about how $4 gas is “okay” and that affordability is a “hoax” that Democrats invented.

Stay away, and they become the target of that deeply vindictive unpopular president.

They’re trapped in a no-win situation entirely of Trump’s making. And it couldn’t be happening to a worse bunch of people.