Will the Democrats fund President Trump’s bid for the White House? We ask because it looks like some of Mr. Trump’s erstwhile Republican backers are sitting this one out. Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman is a no. Citadel’s Ken Griffin is backing Governor DeSantis. Will Democrats repeat the scheme they used in the midterms — aiding in the primaries far-right GOP candidates who would, in the general, be easier to beat?

The Democrats’ cross-party financial support — to the tune of some $53 million — brought cynicism to a new low, but proved a success, as our Dean Karayanis reports. Out of 13 so-called “MAGA Republicans” that Democrats funded in GOP primaries, six won nomination, then lost the election. It could well have cost Republicans control of the Senate, for Democratic meddling in New Hampshire helped save incumbent Senator Hassan’s seat.

In that race, a Democratic PAC “aligned with” Senator Schumer, the Washington Post reports, spent 3.2 million spondulicks during the primary on ads to boost a retired general, Don Bolduc, who’d claimed that Mr. Trump won in 2020. The ads denounced General Bolduc’s “moderate rival” as a “sleazy politician” who would be “beholden to the party establishment,” the Post says. The PAC spending dwarfed the $89,000 General Bolduc had on hand.

“We won’t sit idly by,” the PAC’s Veronica Yoo explained, while General Bolduc’s rival is “on air attacking our candidate.” She later joked on Twitter that “GOP infighting is my love language.”  In the House, too, the Democrats’ tactics targeted in the primaries moderate Republican candidates — including some who had voted to impeach Mr. Trump. The interference is one reason why the GOP will take control with only a slender majority. 

In Michigan, the Democrats’ campaign committee spent $425,000 to aid a more conservative rival to Representative Peter Meijer, a House Republican who backed Mr. Trump’s impeachment. The Post decried the Democrats’ “ends-justifies-the-means approach,” but Speaker Pelosi endorsed it as “in furtherance of our winning the election.” She says “the contrast between” the parties “is so drastic that we have to — we have to win.”

The Post was among those on the left who noticed that the Democratic scheme was at odds with rhetoric from President Biden and other liberals framing the midterms “as a struggle against ‘ultra-MAGA’ election deniers.” Yet the Post was more concerned that the “reckless” strategy would fail and “some extreme Republicans whom Democrats elevated during the primaries might win” election.

The success, Mr. Karayanis writes, raises “the specter that this sort of meddling could become standard.” As the GOP 2024 primary season gets off to an early start, the moment is ripe for the Democrats to intervene. It’s early, but polls already show Mr. DeSantis faring better than Mr. Trump in a hypothetical contest with President Biden. The Club for Growth, too, is touting polls showing Mr. DeSantis ahead of Mr. Trump in early primary states.

Many on the right are already opposing Mr. Trump’s run. One of them is press baron Rupert Murdoch. “There have been conversations between them,” the Guardian writes, “during which Rupert made it clear to Donald that we cannot back another run for the White House.” Another billionaire, Ronald Lauder, who played a key role backing Congressman Lee Zeldin’s run for New York governor, is out as well. Will Democrats be sitting by idly?