The Donald’s Gambit

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week the road to the November midterms continues as your hosts examine the primary landscape after a busy week of elections. The Collective’s native Connecticut held primaries this week, not without some interesting results with regard to the Donald Trump shadow that seems to loom large over so many elections nationwide. The Trump effect is real, as Trump-endorsed Republican candidates for Senate and Governor in Connecticut came through victoriously. But the conversation doesn’t end here at home, but seems to be at the very center of Republican primaries in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin among others, where Trump has played the role of king-maker in this Republican primary season. The true litmus test for this largely pro-“stolen election” set of nominees and the so-called Trump effect will ultimately come this November as the makeup of both national and many statewide houses hangs in the balance. But first come the rants: where Andrew cedes his normal beat with a look at a newsworthy week in boxing with a nod to some of the big fights to come this fall; Ed details the latest terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week in the life of disgraced GOP buffoon Marco Rubio; and finally Zak takes the reins on this week in LIV Golf, following a rough afternoon in court exposing some apparent holes in the outfit’s financial arrangement with contracted players.