It's not just Democrats; Trump is battling Mitch McConnell for control of the Senate

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump are locked in a fight of the ages over the midterms. Hollywood films featuring monster slugfests that dwarf whole cities come to mind.

Here, competing endorsements and campaign money are the prizes. McConnell has vowed to have no "goofballs" win the Republican primaries.

Trump keeps endorsing candidates with scandals on their résumés. If he keeps that up, as he just did on Feb. 17, he could land up on the mat in his bout with McConnell, whose political moxie is not to be underestimated.

Trump's questionable endorsements

Just look at what Trump did on that day, putting his "complete and total" support behind Texas congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz.

The Washington Post reported that in October, De La Cruz’s estranged husband accused her of “cruel and aggressive conduct” toward his 14-year-old daughter. De La Cruz denies it ever happened. Even so, Trump endorsing candidates with questionable personal-life marks feels like "Groundhog Day" all over again.

In July, Trump endorsed Ohio congressional candidate Max Miller. He allegedly shoved a girlfriend against the wall and slapped her.

Miller’s girlfriend was Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said she had told Trump about the abuse. Miller has sued her for defamation in this instance. 

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McConnell, of course, is more concerned about Trump’s Senate than House endorsements. Trump is backing Herschel Walker’s Senate run in Georgia. Walker’s former wife has claimed that he threatened her with a gun and knives, and once held a razor against her throat and said he would kill her. Other women have also reported threats by Walker in the early 2000s. He has been open about having had psychological issues and says he has gotten help, which would be admirable.

Walker has apparently won over McConnell.

But the Senate Republican leader has apparently reached his limit in Trump-supported candidates with troubling histories, at least those running for the Senate. At stake for McConnell is regaining his role as Senate majority leader. Getting between him and that goal is about as smart as standing on the tracks between two oncoming freight trains.

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Trump, of course, has a committed base as his sword and shield. But he’s also weakened by a multifront war:

►On Feb. 9, his accountants, the Mazars firm, dumped the Trump Organization and disowned the family business' financial statements, enough to disrupt his cash supply lines.

►Last Thursday, a New York judge ordered the former president and his children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. to testify in Attorney General Letitia James’ civil lawsuit against him for fraud.

►And on Friday, a federal judge ruled that he can be sued for inciting the siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors in New York City, Atlanta and possibly the Justice Department are breathing down his neck, along with investigative juggernauts on the House Jan. 6 committee.

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That doesn’t even take into account the incoming artillery from a press corps armed with stories and leaks from the ongoing investigations. It’s a sign of his lagging power, CNN says, that "Trump's support hasn't been enough to clear all Republican (primary) fields." 

Who's going to win this battle?

In this war, some say McConnell’s campaign is not going according to plan. But in a long war, it might not be smart to bet against someone who has proved himself to be the George Patton of Capitol combat.

Trump's endorsement of De La Cruz shows that he values fealty to him above whatever scandal a Republican candidate brings to the party. Backing the candidate who kneels lowest is a one-trick pony that could gallop away, with Trump’s power falling off the saddle.

Just look at his track record endorsing nonincumbents with dubious pasts.

Back in 2017, he backed Roy Moore for Senate; multiple women charged that he had sexually assaulted them when they were teens. Moore pulled off the improbable feat of losing to Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama, which Trump won by 28 percentage points in 2016.

Last September, Trump endorsed Republican Sean Parnell, running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, a race that could determine Senate control. In November, Parnell withdrew from the race after his estranged wife testified that he “strangled her once so hard she had to bite his hand, and that he once hit one of their children so hard it left welts on the child’s body,” according to The Washington Post.

Parnell contested the allegation, but the judge disagreed, saying he found Parnell to be "less credible" than his wife. 

It’s obvious that family abuse allegations and scandal do not preclude a Trump endorsement. The question is whether Trump regards them as qualifiers. The demise of these Trump endorsees suggest that in the McConnell-Trump battle over approved candidates, it’s not the Republican establishment superhero who has gotten too close to the kryptonite.

Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, is counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy.