A footnote on Dr. Oz

When Dr. Oz narrowly won the Pennsylvania Republican primary — by fewer than 1,000 votes — I lamented the result in “Oz versus Fetterman.” I blamed Trump for an endorsement that, given the closeness of the race, must have pushed Oz over the top. I thought former Trump Treasury Under Secretary David McCormick, Oz’s opponent in the primary, made for a far better candidate against John Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s general election.

In last week’s post-election story exploring the impact of the midterm results on Trump, Maggie Haberman reported in the New York Times: “[A]t his home in Florida, Mr. Trump was privately spreading blame, including to Sean Hannity and the casino mogul Steve Wynn, for his endorsement of Mehmet Oz, the defeated Pennsylvania Senate candidate. He included his wife, Melania, among those he complained had offered poor advice, according to several people familiar with the discussions.”

Haberman put it this way on Twitter.

Haberman appears to have good sources in Trump’s world, including Trump. I would say I don’t know why that is except that Haberman elsewhere quotes Trump commenting about her to aides during one of her interviews with him: “I love being with her, she’s like my psychiatrist.”

Trump took up the subject of Dr. Oz and disputed Haberman’s story on his Truth Social platform:

There is a Fake Story being promulgated by third rate reporter Maggie Hagaman of the Failing New York Times, that I am blaming our great former First Lady, Melania, and Sean Hannity, that I was angry with their pushing me to Endorse Dr. Oz. First of all Oz is a wonderful guy who really worked hard and was a very good candidate, but he WAS LONG IN THE RACE before I ever Endorsed him, they had NOTHING to do with it, he was not a ‘denier’ (his mistake!), & I was not at all ANGRY. Fake News!

He’s not responsible for Oz — Oz was in the race before Trump’s endorsement. For some reason he claims no credit for the impact of his endorsement in this case. And Oz was a good candidate, except perhaps for his failure to push 2020 election issues. It all makes for interesting reading as we contemplate the rise of John Fetterman, not to mention the presidential campaign to come.

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