The Republican political graveyard is littered with bodies that Donald Trump has gleefully buried.

No politician in modern American history has been so dominant in the internecine fights of his own party. Trump’s track record of picking general-election winners is mixed at best, but he is extremely successful when it comes to either choosing the winners of Republican primaries or marginalizing Republicans who run afoul of him. Mike Pence, Jeff Sessions, Liz Cheney, and Jeff Flake have no future in the GOP. Whether he sat in the White House or not, Trump’s endorsement was the true gold standard for Republicans, and he always knew this. His power was so great he was able to elevate substandard, inexperienced candidates almost at will. This was how Blake Masters, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz, and Doug Mastriano all became nominees for Senate or governor in competitive states — all going down against Democrats.

Come next year, Trump will face a new test: Can he crush the Republicans who have defied him in 2025? Is MAGA, which may be on the wane overall, bigger than even he is, with candidates able to claim the mantle without his sign-off? Trump has broken with plenty of........

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