Trump could have done much worse in picking a Senate candidate for North Carolina

Editor's note: This column was first published on July 27th.

You could hear sighs of relief all across the Triangle this morning. Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the mad king, will not be embarrassing North Carolina by running for Senate here. Her replacement—already anointed by the Orange One in the Oval—will be Michael Whatley, Chair of the Republican National Committee. Politico reported his candidacy this morning.

Politically, I have always found Michael Whatley to be a keen thinker and an adept operator. He understands North Carolina better than the MAGA newcomers who ran Mark Robinson’s campaign from Hell and the blinkered hacks who promoted the candidacy of the far-right provocateur Dan Bishop. Whatley’s knowledge of the state is thorough and nuanced. He does not discount the challenges his party faces in suburban areas or overestimate the state’s appetite for MAGA populism, despite his close relationship with Trump.

Whatley’s experience in Republican politics dates back to the George W. Bush era. Like future Republican stars from Ted Cruz to Brett Kavanaugh, he joined the army of partisan operators who powered Bush through to a judicially certified victory in Florida in 2000. After taking care of the hanging chads, Whatley served as chief of staff for US Senator Elizabeth Dole—a prize recruit of Karl Rove’s and the future (unsuccessful) Chair of the NRSC. It’s hard to imagine a Republican more different from Trump, Mark Robinson, and Laura Loomer, than Senator Dole, whom The New Republic once described as one-part Southern sweet tea, one-part Queen of England.

All of which is to say that Whatley is not a one-dimensional factotum of our country’s disturbed dictator. He has traced the trajectory of North Carolina Republican politics from the Brooks Brothers, South Charlotte era to the new epoch of Trumpian excess. I will be interested to see how he presents himself to the general electorate. I think his true self lies in Bushworld, but he has deftly adapted to the fallout from the MAGA revolution and could easily campaign as a gladiatorial Trumper.

In the most optimistic scenario for Republicans, Whatley emerges as the GOP hybrid the party has needed, but which Trump’s all-consuming presence has denied them, for ten years. He could bring back the traditionally conservative appeal of the Bush GOP while firing the forge of MAGA. I think Whatley has the intellectual agility to try something like this, but I doubt whether he has the natural political talent to translate that sophisticated model into a political performance in the flesh. I tentatively expect him to struggle in retail politics, as many career political operatives who run for office do. But this man is experienced, sharp-elbowed, and not stupid. Washington could have done much worse in picking a nominee.