After beating Nikki Haley in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Donald Trump told his adoring crowd, “I don’t get too angry, I get even.”
It was a familiar warning to the elected Republicans who have crossed Trump. And the vengeance cycle usually follows the same playbook: Trump and his allies go after them in vicious terms, and, eventually, they either side with Trump, lose reelection or quit politics entirely.
Take House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good of Virginia, for example. Good defeated former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman in 2020 after Riggleman angered voters in his district by officiating a same-sex wedding. Good is now facing his own conservative challenger. His sin: Backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally, recently accused Good of being a “disloyal MAGA traitor.” And Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign manager, swore “Bob Good won’t be electable when we get done with him.” A conservative group released a video recently of Good saying he couldn’t “sit by and watch and then regret that we nominated Trump.”