Katie Arrington — who beat Mark Sanford in the South Carolina congressional primary — got seriously injured in a car crash Friday night.

Politico reports:

On Sunday, according to the statement [from her campaign], Arrington underwent two major surgeries. The first was an operation that complemented the initial surgery she underwent Friday night on her abdomen. The second surgery was for a spinal fracture, which went "very well and with no complications."

Almost two weeks ago, the Republican state representative defeated Rep. Mark Sanford in the primary for the GOP nomination in the state's 1st District. She received the last minute support of President Donald Trump in the race, who joined a number of well wishers in tweeting their prayers for her over the weekend....

Tweeting their prayers... God is on Twitter? Actually, Trump tweeted about the fact that he was praying: "My thoughts and prayers are with Representative Katie Arrington of South Carolina." Probably a lie though, don't you think? Or do you think the tweet "My prayers are with X" is itself the prayer?

Sorry to go all theological on you! I'm glad Arrington seems to be doing well. The driver of the other car — which was driving the wrong way — died.

On Saturday, [Arrington] was described as being seriously injured, sustaining broken ribs and a fracture in her back, among other injuries. "As we all know, Katie Arrington is an extremely strong woman and has tremendous faith and an incredibly supportive family," her Twitter account said Saturday.

"It’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? It’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cultlike situation as it relates to a president that happens to be of — purportedly — of the same party."

Said Senator Bob Corker, quoted in "Republicans embrace the ‘cult’ of Trump, ignoring warning signs," which is The Washington Post's response to this week's primaries, including the one in South Carolina, where a promising GOP newcomer, Katie Arrington, beat the well-known Mark Sanford in the Senate race the race for his congressional district.  WaPo identifies Sanford as "a firmly conservative member of Congress who had survived earlier scandal." It doesn't mention that he was the governor of South Carolina (when he became a national laughing stock, "walking the Appalachian Trail")( and that explains why my tag for him is "Gov. Sanford").

Why shouldn't WaPo celebrate Arrington's victory and exult at the rejection of the disgraced Mark Sanford? Why not use the template Women Triumph Over Sleazy Men? I know WaPo has that template, but I assume the answer is that everything must be understood through the loathing of Donald Trump.

Sanford criticized Trump, and Trump tweeted in support of Arrington. That seems to reflect the simple popularity of the man who got himself elected President, but somehow that's a "cult." By the way, was Obama a cult? I don't mind the use of the word "cult" to describe and explain personal political popularity, but WaPo is so aggressively slanted these days. It's propaganda. It's the cult of hating Trump.

Trump’s closest allies have largely dismissed the “cult” commentary, as Corker put it, as evidence of cultural and class tension inside the Beltway.

Oh!  As Corker put it. It's Corker's word, and when WaPo uses the word, it puts the word in quotation marks. Well, all right then. Journalism credibility protected — with scare quotes. And they go to the other side for balance. Look, it's Scaramucci again:

“They keep saying the cult stuff because they don’t like the disruption and change,” said former White House communications director and financier Anthony Scaramucci. “He doesn’t speak with an elitist vocabulary and the savoir faire that Washingtonians are used to,” referring to Trump.

The next line is a warning:

Disruption works both ways, however, and is no guarantee of success in midterm elections, which are often perilous to a president.

As if the Washington Post is inclined to give good advice to the GOP.

And then it's back to the Trump antagonists, this time to address the unstated question that WaPo must know readers have (and I said it myself, above, was Obama a cult?):

“I don’t think we, or any president, demanded personal loyalty to the degree Trump has,” said David Axelrod, an Obama adviser during his first campaign and term. “We made appeals around shared goals, ideals and agendas. We didn’t play in primaries. Popular as he was, Obama’s party was not the cult that the GOP is today.”

Here's the influential Trump tweet:

Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018

Ha ha. Argentina. Click on my "Appalachian Trail" link above. Sanford, as governor, told people he was off to hike the Appalachian Trail — so wholesome! — but he went to Argentina — to commit adultery.