Trump ridicules ‘sleazebag Vindman’ for election loss to ‘radical left lunatic’ in Democratic primary

Alex Vindman built a whole second career on being the guy who testified against Trump, and now he can't even win a Democratic primary in his own adopted state. That's not a Trump talking point, that's just what happened Tuesday night. He lost to a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Trump posting "how cool is that???" is exactly the kind of gloating you'd expect, but honestly, who wouldn't?

There's something almost poetic about it. Vindman spent years positioning himself as the sober, credentialed alternative to Trump-era chaos, the guy who wore the uniform and knew the rules and did the right thing. Democratic primary voters looked at that resume and picked the socialist state legislator instead. That tells you something about where the actual energy is in that party right now, and it isn't with retired lieutenant colonels doing cable hits.

We don't think Trump needed to call him a sleazebag to make the point land. The result did that on its own. But it's also fair to notice that a man who became a hero to one wing of the political establishment couldn't turn that into fifty thousand votes when it mattered. Vindman wanted to be a senator. Instead he became a footnote in a primary that Florida Democrats will spend the next few months arguing over, wondering how they got here and whether Nixon can win a general election at all.