When Trump endorsed TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz as a Senate candidate in the Pennsylvania Republican primaries, conservatives were very unhappy. Because Oz, although running as a Republican, is anything but a doctrinaire conservative, Trump’s endorsement seemed like a great betrayal. However, Ned Ryun, the founder and CEO of American Majority and a solid conservative despite his background as a speechwriter for George W. Bush, argues that Trump had decent reasons for endorsing Oz. Ryun’s arguments are certainly worth considering.

Like Donald Trump himself before Trump decided to run as a Republican, Oz has hewed to the left on social issues for years. The Victory Girls’ blog has a good rundown of his anything-but-conservative stances:

• He did a show recognizing so-called transgenderism as a real thing.
• He supported Shanghai-style lockdowns for COVID.
• He supports “red flag” laws that eat away at the Second Amendment.
• He’s pro-abortion.

Oz also has dual citizenship with Turkey, although he’s said he’ll relinquish that citizenship if he’s elected to the Senate.

Despite Oz’s holding all those decidedly non-conservative views, Trump endorsed Oz:

NEW!

President Donald J. Trump announces his endorsement of Dr. Oz pic.twitter.com/k6U7UrkmdC

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 9, 2022

Conservatives, needless to say, were disappointed, something that the same Victory Girls’ post details.

Ryun, though, says that, as between Oz and Dave McCormick, who is the other Republican running in Pennsylvania’s Republican primary, Oz was actually the better choice: “There are no credible MAGA candidates in the Pennsylvania Senate race; this isn’t a potential Jim DeMint versus Oz situation, so Trump really has two choices: Oz or McCormick.”

Certainly, one of the factors driving Trump’s endorsement was the fact that Oz has been a faithful friend to Trump. In 2016, Oz had Trump on his show and touted Trump’s robust physical health and mental well-being. Since then, Oz has consistently refused to be baited into attacking Trump.

Image: Trump on the Dr. Oz show, September 2016. YouTube screen grab.

Meanwhile, McCormick, a former hedge fund manager at Bridgewater, “loved doing business with China.” Not only did he live there for more than 12 years, “Bridgewater has been managing Chinese state money since 1993, including Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund. In short, Bridgewater is in bed with the Chinese Communist Party.” As late as 2021, McCormick was helping augment China’s wealth.

It's not just China, though, says Ryun:

Beyond China, McCormick is your typical open borders, pro-amnesty, Chamber of Commerce type of Republican. He’s also the typical neocon who hasn’t seen a war he doesn’t like. Even worse, he’s bought into the lie of January 6. When asked about it by Bloomberg weeks after the incident, in the context of whether the GOP should jettison Trumpism, McCormick replied, “We shouldn’t embrace the divisiveness of the last four years” of which “Trump bears a great responsibility.” Evidently, McCormick missed the divisiveness caused by the Russian collusion hoax, Ukrainian quid pro quo, and a host of other nonstop attacks by administrative state actors and corporate propagandists.

Throw on top of the crap cake that is McCormick the icing of his new wife, globalist Dina Powell, and you’re telling me Trump isn’t going to endorse his opponent? Come on. Of course Trump is going to endorse Oz.

Ryun acknowledges that Oz will never be a Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley. Still, he’ll be a pretty good Republican and, if Trump gets back into the White House in 2024, he’ll support Trump all the way.

In other words, according to Ned Ryun, both Pennsylvania Republican senatorial candidates are far from perfect. Trump, intelligently, is refusing to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. He’s therefore chosen to endorse a loyal friend who leans left on social issues but is not in bed with China, and who doesn’t believe in amnesty or dragging America into foreign wars that don’t benefit her.

I’m not saying you must agree with Ryun’s take on the matter. However, it’s certainly worth considering if you were thinking about turning your back on Trump because he endorsed Mehmet Oz, M.D.