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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharlie Dent: "If we get wiped out, the question is going to be: 'Should we do that (Trump) again?'"
What puts Republicans on Capitol Hill in an awkward spot is the fact that Trump's approval numbers remain rock-solid among core GOP voters, standing at 85% among Republicans in a recent Quinnipiac poll. But if they side too closely with Trump, they risk alienating the broader electorate, where his poll numbers have been historically low.
It's his shaky standing that could prompt a Democratic wave in this fall's elections, with the GOP at serious risk of losing the House and potentially even the Senate. If that were to happen, some believe, Republicans in the Washington will begin to search for a new GOP candidate come 2020.
"Wait until the midterms," said the outgoing GOP Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate from Pennsylvania. "If we get wiped out, the question is going to be: 'Should we do that again?'" referring to backing Trump for re-election.
"I've supported the President in the past and support him now but three years from now?" said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a freshman Republican. "I think the midterms are a long ways away in terms of politics; I don't get involved that far ahead."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/politics/congress-republicans-trump-second-term/index.html
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Big Money demands obedience, and the GOP stands ready. Well, kneels.
ProfessorGAC
(65,076 posts)If this does cause a tidal wave, the useful idiot will no longer be useful to the Big Money folks. Someone the new majority will not work with is useless to them
OnDoutside
(19,962 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)It's just that the GOP have always delivered a better ROI. If a blue wave means that the billionaires' wish list gets more modest for a few years, they'll still be depending on the Republican Party to do most of the legwork--and more cheaply. And they'll happily support the next dimwit billionaire who comes along, unless they find slightly different branding necessary.
You say they'll have to change, and you're right. I say that Citizens United means they'll change as little as possible, and I'm not wrong.
ProfessorGAC
(65,076 posts)The moneyed elite aren't changing their methods, but i still see the ROI going down and they could find someone more palatable that would reverse any trends toward more liberal politics among the masses. Something like that occurring is anathema to their libertarian dreams.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Cosmocat
(14,566 posts)for the same reason they have bent over for him for the last three years - the base.
They primed this pump for decades, whistling at racism, mysogny, etc and COMPLETELY separating their voting block from reality. 45 saw this and simply took their base from them by saying out and out what they were whistiling at.
He now owns them, and there is nothing they fear more than their primary voters - it used to be that the manipulated them, but 45 took the whip from them and now controls them.
HE WILL win the primary and they WILL get behind him because any elected official that stands up to him knows they will get beat in the primary - which is why the only people, like Dent, standing up to him are people who aren't runnin again.
Cosmocat
(14,566 posts)nm
Freddie
(9,267 posts)Usually leads to defeat in the general. See Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. We should encourage this.
SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)Has nothing to do with how he is performing as Chief Executive, but is only important as far as what does this mean about my re-election chances.
This is why polls are showing that the electorate wants to take the decision away from these grifters and throw them out at the first opportunity.