WaPo: "'It feels like a horror movie': Republicans feel anxious and adrift defending Trump"
Robert Costa and Philip Rucker
Oct. 28, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Republican senators are lost and adrift as the impeachment inquiry enters its second month, navigating the grave threat to President Trump largely in the dark, frustrated by the absence of a credible case to defend his conduct and anxious about the historic reckoning that likely awaits them. Recent days have delivered the most damaging testimony yet about Trump and his advisers commandeering Ukraine policy for the president’s personal political goals, which his allies on Capitol Hill sought to undermine by storming the deposition room and condemning the inquiry as secretive and corrupt. Those theatrics belie the deepening unease many Republicans now say they feel — particularly those in the Senate who are dreading having to weigh their conscience against their political calculations in deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump should the Democratic-controlled House impeach the president.
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“It feels like a horror movie,” said one veteran Republican senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the consensus. The Republican Party’s strategy is being directed almost entirely by the frenzied impulses of Trump, who has exhibited fits of rage over the Democrats’ drive to remove him from office for abuse of power. “I did nothing wrong,” Trump told reporters Friday. “This is a takedown of the Republican Party.” Although Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has been a loud dissenter, he has been speaking for himself as opposed to acting as a frontman for some silent caucus of like-minded Republicans, according to people familiar with the dynamic. Most GOP senators have been taking cues from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose paramount concern has been maintaining his party’s control of the chamber in next year’s election.
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Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a conservative hard-liner, has been a fixture at the White House, talking to Trump “more than Mulvaney,” in the estimation of one Trump adviser who was not authorized to speak publicly. “Every time you look over toward the Oval, there is Mark Meadows,” this adviser said. There are some signs that the White House is moving to do more to deal with the fraying among congressional Republicans, with Trump reaching out to more members by phone and discussions about bringing in a high-profile lawyer to deal directly with impeachment, as well as new communication aides. The usual chorus of support for Trump from conservative media figures remains active but scattered. Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has launched a podcast that he calls an outside “war room” for the president, broadcasting from the basement of his home on Capitol Hill. Meadows appeared on Bannon’s program last week, calling out House Democrats for “information warfare” and said it is “imperative that our team” counters with “real facts.”
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The GOP majority is in play in 2020, with Collins, Joni Ernst (Iowa), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) each facing tough campaigns and grappling with polls in their states showing independent voters souring on Trump and open to impeachment. “At some point, McConnell is going to have to perform triage to save the majority,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime GOP consultant and Trump critic. “How the Senate Republicans handle everything is all going to come down to how threatened Mitch feels and how worried he is about losing Colorado, North Carolina and a few others states. And if Trump’s numbers keep dropping, that decision is going to come sooner than later for him.” For now, Trump’s near-absolute control over his party’s base makes it difficult for Republicans to do anything but cheer him or be uneasy in the shadows, even though polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of his job performance.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/it-feels-like-a-horror-movie-republicans-feel-anxious-and-adrift-defending-trump/2019/10/28/b4510698-f75f-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Suck it up buttercups.
He'll be locked in a real battle with Amy McGrath for his own Senate seat, and is going to be under tremendous pressure from other republican Senators to hang on to their Senate majority. The entire shitty Trump mess is going to seriously threaten the existence of the Republican party. Moscow Mitch may decide it's time for he and his lovely wife 
to retire and enjoy their ill-gotten gains while they can. If people start closely examining the McConnell's finances it could prove to be extremely embarrassing, if not criminally liable.
There's a lot of (R) Senators who have to make some life defining decisions, and very soon. I'd say they have to do a lot of "soul searching", but as we all know, republicans have no souls. 
It's easy for them to "kill the messenger" and it keeps them from having to deal with the problem. 
...this is on the GOP and the GOP Senators. There were those who believed (a few) and those who thought they could control this monster (no one can), and finally the most numerous of all: those who thought they could take advantage and profit monetarily and politically.
Well, go down with the ship, you rat bastards.
