Trump Campaign Reportedly So Desperate It Thinks It Can Win Oregon

Two years in and President Donald Trump’s approval rating has been in a constant state of “in the shitter.” Now, even Texas, my lovable but Republican and oft-misguided Texas, would maybe rather vote for a different idiot than elect this idiot again. So what’s a presidential re-election campaign to do when it’s having a hard time getting MAGA country to KAG for Trump? It starts swinging for the fences, hard.

According to CNN, the Trump campaign is considering beefing up their presence in Oregon, “testing the waters” in a state where Trump lost to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by 11 percentage points in 2016, and which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984.

In a memo obtained by CNN, Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio shared with the Trump campaign ideas for “expanding the map” of potential electoral votes that Trump would need for re-election. The memo describes New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada—all states Trump lost—as now “highly competitive,” as is Minnesota, which Fabrizo instructed the campaign to “keep an eye on.”

The Trump campaign is already on the ground in the three former states. Taking Oregon, however, hasn’t been attempted by a Republican since George W. Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004 (he lost). A senior Trump campaign source told CNN that they’re considering hiring staff in the state following Fabrizio’s determinations. The campaign also had conversations with the National Republican Congressional Committee, which hopes that Trump’s presence will help recruit a Republican to challenge Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio.

In response to news of a growing Trump campaign presence, the Oregon Democratic Party established to CNN that it has no interest in working with a party that puts kids in cages. Between that and Trump’s fear of losing to Sleepy Joe, it’s not completely clear how desperate the Trump campaign is to try and flip a state as blue as Oregon, but I would rank the team somewhere between Kind Of and Very Fucking Desperate. From CNN, emphasis mine:

To be sure, the Trump campaign is under no illusion that Oregon is winnable at this point, but they also know that re-taking states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan or even Iowa, where the President is traveling on Tuesday, are hardly sure bets.

“If we are a month out and a previous victory like Michigan is not possible, would be nice to know other states are options,” said the senior adviser.