Friend, there are a few stories going around after Georgia and Pennsylvania I think are important to discuss. Spoiler alert: Yes I am still optimistic about Democrats’ chances this year if the pro-democracy coalition can get its act together. But there are a few myths I’ve heard too many times this past week. Let’s talk about them.

Myth 1: The Georgia primary demonstrates that the GOP electorate has moved on from Trump. 

How many times over the past six years have people claimed that Trump lost his hold on the GOP? I have stopped counting. You should too. In every primary, you can assume Trump controls at least 30% of the electorate. That’s enough to win in a lot of races. It won Trump the Republican nomination in 2016. 

In Georgia, he endorsed terrible candidates who ran weak campaigns. David Perdue stopped running TV ads a month before the election. Jody Hice had zero name recognition outside of his Congressional district. So you might think, sure, Trump’s candidates lost. He’s weak! But that 30%+ ain’t going anywhere. So guess who you’re going to see going to kneel before the altar of Trump? Brian Kemp. The same rule applies in every other GOP race around the country. Either Trump gets his endorsed candidate or he controls enough of our electorate to hold the GOP candidate hostage. If you’re in the GOP, you’re one of two kinds of person: the hostages or the hostage takers. 

That’s a win for Trump and a loss for our democracy. That’s the fight we’re in.

Myth 2: Some GOP candidates are simply too extreme to win. 

Remember how I keep saying the GOP are going to nominate a crop of loons? They are. And it will hurt them this fall. But don’t think for a second that just because they’re crazy that they can’t win. 

Look at Pennsylvania, it’s likely going to be ultra-MAGA Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz running statewide. Both of them won their primaries by going as MAGA as they could. Some people now assume this will make them completely unelectable in the general election. But ask Glenn Youngkin how easy it is to camouflage extremism. They are going to do the same thing. Oz already is. It’s how MAGA candidates win: Prove your loyalty to Trump in the primary, and then soften your image for the general election. It worked in Virginia, and if we are caught sleeping, it can work in Pennsylvania.

These are hard fights. But it’s even more important now to stand up for the democracy we believe in – especially when things look tough.

Myth 3: Democrats should wait to go after MAGA candidates. 

This last myth is the reason America has let the Trump movement get as far as it has. Too many strategists in Washington always think it's best to play it nice until the last month of campaign season, and then panic spend a bunch of money after they see bad polls. Here’s a piece of advice for everyone who cares about our democracy: Go after Mastriano, Oz, and Herschel Walker now. Do not wait. Define them early and define them now. Don’t let them hide behind their sweatervests.

Yes, the Trumpist candidates can win if we are not careful. And Democrats have a lot of work to do. But the GOP nominations have the potential to make this like 2010 all over again. And here is a statistic we should never forget: Trump Republican candidates run 9 points stronger than the MAGA Republican candidates do. If we continue to make it clear that MAGA extremists have taken over the GOP – and even Trump has lost control of them – we have a path to victory in November and beyond.

Remember when the Republicans nominated a witch and blew a Senate seat? That kind of year. These ultra-MAGA candidates are vulnerable.

But they’re only vulnerable if we define their extremism to voters sooner rather than later. The Lincoln Project is the only group that is consistently doing the hard and focused work of going after these MAGA candidates. Make a donation today to help us continue it, Friend.

-Joe Trippi