The slowly growing rift between Kevin Stitt and Donald Trump has suddenly become a giant chasm!
In case you have a life and haven't been following that drama, the Governor found himself briefly atop President Trump's shit list following the fiasco that has become the National Governors Association dinner.
The gist is that Trump excluded Democrats from what's traditionally a happy bipartisan banquet for the National Governors Association. As a result, Stitt – the group's chair – issued a public statement saying they were cancelling the event. The story blew up, Trump got mad and fired off a lengthy Truth Social post about the situation.
After that, Trump fired off a statement directly addressing Stitt, calling the Christian Nationalist who is probably one of the most right-wing and conservative Governors in the country – a "mediocre governor" and "RINO."
I can't say this very often, but I kind of agree with most of what Donald Trump is spewing here. Stitt is very mediocre (at best), was losing his election (in some polls), and definitely did a bad job in just about every way imaginable, but…
A) He probably would have won even without Trump's endorsement. Remember, Oklahomans vote their biases, fears, and feelings over their best interests. How else can someone like Trump sweep all 77 counties?
B) The dude is clearly not a RINO. Stitt's an Evangelical moral conservative white man from Oklahoma who's made millions in mortgage banking. He plays all the right-wing culture war cards, wants to cut taxes for the wealthy, and his intentional MAGA-style gutting of public services will cost us for years to come. Except for this rare instance of decorum, the guy is an elephant all the way.
Although it's kind of funny to see that Stitt – at least for now – has lost the support of the man who inspired him to enter politics, I wouldn't laugh too hard.
As I mentioned earlier, Stitt's been slowly drifting away from Trump ever since he was reelected in 2022. It started when he made a miscalculated play towards team DeSantis, and has popped up at various times on news shows, like when he criticized the president's gestapo-style occupation of cities.
If you ask me, I'd bet this latest challenge to Trump has more to do with Stitt's calculated ambition than it does him actually caring about who Trump invited to a dinner. He's obviously positioning himself as a mediocre Republican alternative for some political race down the road, and this was an easy and opportune moment to do exactly that.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
