This is an opinion column

Like it or not, Donald Trump inspires fealty like no other politician in modern history. During his latest trip to Alabama, there was a long line of politicians bending the knee in hopes of a little recognition from the former president. Last Friday Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk noticed one emerging Republican leader from Alabama’s federal delegation hadn’t yet endorsed Trump, and the conservative activist took it upon himself to remedy the situation.

“There’s no legitimate excuse for Sen. Katie Britt to be the only federal elected official from Alabama not endorsing Donald Trump, especially when he went to bat for her in the (GOP Senate) primary (in 2022) and especially when Trump, the rule of law and our entire country are under assault,” Kirk posted on Twitter last Friday.

At this point, I can’t tell whether Kirk is reckless, uninformed, or both.

Other columns by Cameron Smith:

First, let’s talk about the future of the Republican Party. Even if Trump effectively navigates his legal challenges, wins over the other half of the Republican Party currently looking for another candidate, and manages to defeat Biden, he’s not the future of the GOP.

Let me repeat. Donald Trump isn’t the future of the GOP. That’s not an anti-Trump statement. It’s a fact of human biology. He’s 77-years-old. If it makes you feel any better, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) isn’t the future either. As much as I love Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), he’s on the way out too.

Conservatives need to have a plan for what and who comes next. If we’re smart, the Republican future looks and acts a lot like Britt. Other Republican leaders seem to agree.

For exactly that reason, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel asked Britt to serve on the Republican Party Advisory Council. The council is reviewing why Republicans seriously underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections. Most Republicans are still parroting nonsense about 2020, so we haven’t quite made it to a robust post-mortem of the red wave that wasn’t in 2022. Britt is working to provide some actionable information relevant to any Republicans concerned about winning elections. As a condition of participation in the council, Britt pledged to remain neutral on endorsements until the work was completed.

So yeah, Charlie, there’s a perfectly legitimate reason why Britt wasn’t going to be hustled into an endorsement. It also didn’t have anything to do with Trump.

Kirk isn’t connecting with reality either when he suggests that Trump meaningfully helped put Britt in office. Trump was all-in for MAGA Mo Brooks until Britt had all but clinched the Republican nomination. The eleventh-hour endorsement wasn’t a hallmark of loyalty, but rather Trump’s effort to erase his own failure.

To make matters worse, al.com picked up Kirk’s inflammatory tweet and ran a factually-accurate story with the headline, “Katie Britt called out for not endorsing Trump by GOP activist Charlie Kirk.” The clear implication is that Britt refused to back Trump, but that isn’t accurate.

Unfavorable headlines aren’t new to politics, but this is exactly the kind of garbage that’s been happening for years with little push back from our leaders. They don’t want to correct the record themselves and deal with the headache if an influential individual like Kirk decides to double down instead of admitting he was wrong. Politicians don’t want to damage media relationships, so the rest of us are left with a false impression.

There’s literally one member of Alabama’s federal delegation taking a serious and objective look at why Republicans got their butts handed to them in 2022. That is work that the GOP should want. Or we could follow Kirk’s lead and get right back on the Trump train without regard to facts or readily available information.

What’s the worst that could happen? Four. More. Years. Of. Biden.

Britt can and should endorse whomever she pleases, including Trump, when her work with the council concludes. Meanwhile, Republican activists like Kirk might want to consider not burning down our Republican house in their giddy zeal to curry favor with Trump. Given a little room to work, Britt might even be able to give Trump a few pointers on what it takes to avoid another loss to Biden.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with a house full of boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He’s a partner in a media company, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on X.