Donald Trump has endorsed a range of Republican politicians heading into the primaries for November’s mid-term election with one of the earliest and most talked about being his endorsement of Mo Brooks. Brooks, a staunch Trump supporter, is currently running to be the GOP candidate for the US senate race in Alabama.

Trump gave his endorsement to Brooks all the way back in April of 2021. In an incredibly odd turn of events, though, Trump has pulled his endorsement just prior to the primary election happening in May.

🚨 PRESIDENT TRUMP ENDORSED MY CAMPAIGN🚨

I am honored and humbled by President Trump's strong endorsement. I ask all Americans who share our America First vision to heed and honor President Trump's request by joining our campaign >> https://t.co/ADCPfMqXqL pic.twitter.com/LpvsDcSXoh

— Mo Brooks – Endorsed By President Trump 🇺🇸 (@MoBrooks) April 7, 2021

TRUMP: “I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks” #ALSEN

— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) March 23, 2022

So what did Brooks do to earn such sudden scorn? The answer appears to be nothing, at least not regarding any personal behavior. Brooks is still a strong Trump supporter, he’s still a conservative, and he hasn’t been caught up in any kind of scandal. Rather, the reason appears two-fold, and I think one holds more weight than the other one.

According to The Hill, Trump was angry that Brooks wasn’t making his campaign center on the 2020 election.

“When I endorsed Mo Brooks, he took a 44-point lead and was unstoppable. He then hired a new campaign staff who ‘brilliantly’ convinced him to ‘stop talking about the 2020 Election,'” Trump said in a statement issued on Wednesday morning.

“Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate. I don’t think the great people of Alabama will disagree with me. Election Fraud must be captured and stopped, or we won’t have a Country anymore.”

Color me skeptical that’s the reason Trump suddenly decided to kick Brooks to the curb. Herschel Walker is not talking about the 2020 election much (if at all), and Trump isn’t pulling that endorsement. A multitude of other endorsed candidates, including Gregg Abbott and Marco Rubio, are also sticking to more present issues with no talk of the 2020 election, yet they remain endorsed by Trump. Besides, why would there be an expectation that endorsed candidates in state-level races spend an inordinate amount of time on the topic?

The other side of this is much simpler: Mo Brooks is going to lose badly.

Recent polls have shown Brooks far behind Katie Britt and Mike Durant, with the latter taking a surprising lead in the latest survey out of Alabama. Trump previously met with Britt, leading to speculation that he might be ready to transfer his endorsement to her. Yet, he also met with Durant over the last week. Whether he takes the chance of even getting involved with another candidate is anyone’s guess. With the race being so tight, he might choose to play it safe and not risk endorsing another loser.

Whether it plays well or not, I’ll just state the obvious: It is weak-tea to pull an endorsement this late in the game based on supposed disagreements that happened many months ago. An endorsement should mean something. If it is subject to change the moment it is clear the endorsed candidate is going to get stomped at the ballot box, that makes it largely worthless. Trump is not going to bat a thousand with endorsements, and he shouldn’t try to force a perfect score because that just makes the record useless and fraudulent. Endorsing Brooks was a loss in his column. Better to accept that, noting all the other wins, than to cook up some outdated reason to throw an endorsee into the lake.

Again, if this was really about something Brooks said at an August 2021 rally (which is one of Trump’s cited reasons in his press release), then the endorsement should have been pulled right then, not over half a year later. To do it now, right as Brooks is looking at electoral doom, hurts the credibility of Trump’s endorsements.