Reduced to groveling

Phil Berger is running the most embarrassing primary in recent memory.

Last night, Donald Trump endorsed North Carolina Senate President Pro-tem Phil Berger in his primary against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. It was the culmination of a sad and humiliating effort to secure Trump’s support. The most powerful Republican in the state spent a year groveling and debasing himself for Trump’s endorsement.

For most of his career, I had great respect for Senator Berger, even if I vehemently disagreed with what he was doing to our state. I believed that he was acting in good faith to do what he sincerely believed was best for North Carolina. He ran an impressive caucus operation that had little grumbling and few leaks, no small task when dealing with a bunch of political egos. He also seemed to treat the people around the legislature with respect, even his political opponents.

His bid for re-election this year changed my view of him. The Berger family has amassed too much power in Rockingham County for their own good. Berger has been in office for decades. One son is on the state Supreme Court and the other is a county commissioner. Locals have been grumbling for more than a few years about their influence in the county.

The issue that brought the resentment to a head was a proposed casino. Many county residents were surprised and dismayed when Berger announced a plan to locate a casino in Rockingham County. They became angry when the county commissioners, including the younger Berger, rubber-stamped a proposal to re-zone almost 200 acres to allow for the casino development despite opposition from neighbors and churches. Right or wrong, many people blamed the Bergers and suspected some sort of nefarious deal.

Enter Sam Page. Page has been the long-time sheriff of Rockingham County. While the Bergers’ stock was going down, his was going up. He’s beloved in his community and apparently shares the concern of many in Rockingham County about the Bergers. He announced a year ago that he would challenge Phil Berger in the primary in 2026.

After a poll released this summer showed Page with a huge lead over the Senator, Berger’s team began to panic. They put on a full-court press for Donald Trump’s endorsement. And that’s where the story gets sad.

Over the past few months, Berger’s social media accounts have been courting Trump’s support with transparently insincere flattery. Of course, that’s what Trump loves. Berger joins a long list of Republican politicians and world leaders who debase themselves to get Trump’s blessing.

Berger may have even cut a deal to redistrict the state in the middle of the decade in a transactional attempt to buy the President’s endorsement. Of course, he claims there was no quid pro quo. Berger says he wanted to “protect Trump’s agenda.”

On the eve of filing, Berger sent a state senator to ask Page not to run. Senator Amy Galey went to Page’s house and left a letter on his door begging him not to get into the race. Not only is the effort humiliating, Galey’s letter was embarrassing.

She argued Berger would spend all of his money on himself instead of Republican senators in swing districts. She said that if Page ran, he would cost Republican seats, ending the Senate’s veto proof majority. He would prevent them from enacting conservative policies because senate Republicans would have to work with Governor Josh Stein. While Galey may believe in Berger’s fundraising prowess, she apparently has little faith in his political skills. Her view that compromise is failure underscores the authoritarian nature of the Trump GOP.

Phil Berger is a man that every Republican in the state should be thanking. He oversaw a multiyear agenda that pushed the state hard to the right and has protected GOP power. Instead, he’s been reduced to groveling, begging for the support of the conman in the White House to rescue him from the threat of a primary challenge.

Berger’s story is analogous to the Republican Party writ large. Berger is a highly accomplished political leader whose career and record should stand on their own. Instead, he’s reduced to begging for the blessing of a man he knows is morally and ethically challenged. If he can’t win a primary, he should walk away with a legacy he can be proud of. Like the Republican Party as a whole, he’s sacrificing his dignity and self-respect on the alter of Trump. How humiliating.

As I said at Thanksgiving, I’m most thankful that I’m not a Republican.