The Trump Endorsement Trap

Byron Donalds trump
While polls show Rep. Byron Donalds with a healthy lead in the primary, Trump’s endorsement hasn’t scared off other Republicans. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Peter Hamby
December 2, 2025

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Florida, Donald Trump’s adoptive home and the hot, roiling center of the MAGAverse, would seem like the kind of place where the president’s word is sacrosanct and his control over the Republican Party inviolable. But the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary has jolted Trump’s political advisors from the fantasy that his endorsement makes any race a fait accompli.