Philip M. Bailey

in less than a couple of days.

The stock market's volatility, yes, the ongoing crisis with affordability, but the Iran war, more than anything, I think, stabs at the heart of the America First MAGA movement because Donald Trump was elected in large part because of his disdain for and disgust at foreign wars.

And new polling comes in every day showing that most of the country is against this war, but there are also elements of Republicans that don't agree with certain aspects of the war.

Yeah, I spoke to Mr. Fuller not too long after the results were announced.

He and I had a brief conversation.

And look, he is tried and true a polite man, but at the same time, he's a true Maga warrior, believes in this president, supports the Iran war, bragged, in fact, on social media about the killing of their supreme leader in Iran a few weeks ago, saying he was a monster and really going hard against that regime and its reputation.

I think the way that Mr. Fuller and his campaign and others close to him explained it to me is that, look, his poll numbers were strong.

He made it very clear to the White House and to House Republican leaders that he was going to be a loyal vote and supporter of the president's agenda.

I think taking advantage of, because look, there was a political divorce between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump.

There are still some constituents in that area who have a fondness of her, who are sad to see her leave, but at the end of the day are still going to remain loyal to the president.

And it's important because, look, in the House right now, we have a razor thin majority for the Republicans.

And every member that they lose, whether to an untimely death or to a resignation, means they have very little room to lose even a single vote if they want to get legislation passed.

Adding Mr. Fuller to that caucus gives Donald Trump even a little bit of cushion, which is better than none at all in the House majority that he needs to wield to pass anything at this point in Congress.

So I think Fuller's campaign, like other Republicans, advertised themselves.

I'm sure there's a bit of flattery involved.

I think everyone knows at this point that flattering the president is a good way to get in his good graces.

But he really did sort of take a lead in the pack among Republicans in that race by appealing to the loyalty aspect of Donald Trump.

He's always a big fan of someone who's loyal to him.

He's not a big fan of people who are critical of him, even in the slightest way.

So I think that's how Fuller distinguished himself.