In a statement Saturday night, Trump said his decision was “the only way to win the election,” as he formally backed the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of the TV show “Dr.  Oz Show ».
“The Pennsylvania Commonwealth has a huge opportunity to save America by electing the brilliant and well-known Dr. Mehmet Oz to the United States Senate,” Trump said in part.  “Dr. Oz is smart, tough and will never disappoint you, so he has my Full and Absolute Approval. Good luck, Dr. Oz. Our country needs you!”
Oz was vying for Trump’s approval in the May 17 by-elections against former hedge fund chief executive David McCormick, whose wife, Dina Powell, served in the Trump administration.  The two had made extensive efforts to win over the former president, who remains deeply popular at the Republican base and has been excited by candidates in qualifying races across the country.
At a conservative forum in Pennsylvania last weekend, candidates were asked if they would like Trump to support him and come to Pennsylvania to campaign for them.
“This is the easiest question we will have all day,” said one of the candidates, Jeff Bartos, a real estate investor.  “Yes. 100%, yes.”
The decision marks a disappointment for McCormick, who met with Trump last week and hired a litany of former Trump aides for his campaign.  Although he was virtually unknown to voters before announcing his candidacy in January, he was at the top of a recent Fox News poll of GOP voters in Pennsylvania.
Trump had previously backed Sean Parnell in the race, but Parnell withdrew his candidacy amid allegations of abuse by his estranged wife.  The vote raises questions about the strength of Trump’s control process and concerns among Republicans about whether the former president backed candidates who could win their respective primary but fall into a general election that will determine which party controls the party. Senate.
This time, Trump made it clear that eligibility was above the mind.  In his statement, he noted that Oz was a well-known figure who “lived with us through the screen and was always popular, respected and smart.”
“Perhaps most importantly, I believe that Mehmet Oz will be the most capable of winning the General Election against a Radical Left Democratic who wants to do unthinkable harm to our country,” he added.  “Women, in particular, are attracted to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel. I have seen him many times over the years. They know him, they believe in him and they trust him,” she said.
When Oz interviewed Trump on his 2016 show, Trump once told him that his wife, Melania Trump, was a “big fan” of the show.
Oz also has a long personal history with Trump.
Oz said in a recent interview that he first met Trump in 2004 or 2005 when he asked Trump to use the golf course for an event for the Oz Children’s charity.  Trump agreed.  After that, they saw each other from time to time at social events before Oz interviewed Trump about his health during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump, in conversations, has often praised Oz for his positive attitude on the show.  “He even said that I was in excellent health, which made me like him even more (although he also said that I should lose a few pounds!),” Trump wrote in a statement.
McCormick, meanwhile, has made deep inroads with party donors and officials in Pennsylvania and has received applause from former Trump administration officials Sarah Saunders and Mike Pompeo.  But he had to work to become a pro-Trump candidate in America First.
McCormick has strong ties to the Republican establishment since his days in the administration of US President George W. Bush.  In 2015, McCormick funded Jeb Bush, Trump’s opponent in 2016.
This opened McCormick, who spent twelve years as an executive in one of the nation’s largest hedge funds, to accusing some conservatives of being a “globalizer,” a derogatory term adopted by Trump and others on his trajectory to invent an elite. , an international group that does not serve America’s best interests.
Meanwhile, McCormick and a super PAC that supports him have spent millions to attack Oz.
The ads highlight Oz’s long career on television and as a public figure, accusing him of being a liberal, citing, for example, his repeated public advocacy for “Obamacare,” former President Barack Obama’s health care bill.  They also accuse Oz of being too “Hollywood”.
Oz has also caught fire in the carpet fight.  He lived in New Jersey for two decades until shortly before deciding to run in neighboring Pennsylvania, where his in-laws live.
Trump’s decision has drawn criticism from some critics of Oz, including Parnell, who has backed McCormick.
“I have great respect for President Trump. It was an honor to have his support in the PA,” he wrote on Twitter.  “But I’m disappointed with that. Oz is the opposite of everything that made Trump the best president of my life – he’s the farthest from America First and it would be very bad for the Palestinian Authority.”