Another Bad Week for “Fearful” Vulnerable Senate Republicans “Increasingly Flailing” to Defend Trump’s Conduct

New York Times: “Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2020, fearful of straying too far from Mr. Trump yet at pains to defend him, have adopted a strategy of saying as little as possible”

Washington Post’s Daily 202: “Republicans are increasingly flailing while defending Trump”

Vulnerable Senate Republicans are “increasingly flailing” to defend President Trump’s conduct as they continue to put politics ahead of what should be an objective, nonpartisan effort to find the facts. Instead, they are “pulling even more Trumpian tactics” and “toiling to balance between appealing to a conservative base they badly need to win re-election and drawing the support of more centrist voters who polls show support the impeachment inquiry.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

New York Times: Vulnerable Senate Republicans Shrink From Defending Trump

Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2020, fearful of straying too far from Mr. Trump yet at pains to defend him, have adopted a strategy of saying as little as possible.

By Catie Edmondson and Emily Cochrane

October 24, 2019

Key Points:

• It has tightened the squeeze they were already feeling between a political base that demands unquestioning loyalty to Mr. Trump, and the moderate swing voters who may very well decide their elections. 

• Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, known as a talented campaigner, abruptly walked away from a filmed interview last weekend to avoid answering a question about the military assistance Mr. Trump withheld from Ukraine, a central issue in the inquiry into whether the president enlisted a foreign government to smear his political opponents. 

• In brisk dashes back to their offices, Senators Martha McSally of Arizona and Joni Ernst of Iowa, quickly pivoted to other issues such as rising health care costs, border security and the trade deal with Mexico and Canada. 

• And Senator Susan Collins of Maine has rebuffed any effort to get her to weigh in on impeachment…

• It is not an attractive prospect for senators already toiling to balance between appealing to a conservative base they badly need to win re-election and drawing the support of more centrist voters who polls show support the impeachment inquiry.

• Of the most vulnerable cluster of senators, only one has offered a full-throated defense of Mr. Trump: Mr. Tillis. But Mr. Tillis also has the most immediate threat to counter: a credible primary challenge from Garland Tucker, a deep-pocketed businessman who has accused the lawmaker of disloyalty to the president in a series of ad buys on Fox News.

Washington Post: The Daily 202: Republicans are increasingly flailing while defending Trump from impeachment inquiry

By Amber Phillips

October 25, 2019

Key Points:

• THE BIG IDEA: Republicans are flailing to defend President Trump from the impeachment inquiry, right as some key members of the Senate shift from implicitly defending Trump to acknowledging recent testimony has been damaging to his case.

• Now, as the impeachment inquiry presents stronger evidence Trump was holding up military aid for his personal gain, his congressional defenders are pulling even more Trumpian tactics. Most of them collapse under the weight of the facts. 

• Two top Republican senators introduced a resolution yesterday condemning the whole House inquiry. That won’t stop it, but it will help undermine it—and show Trump whose side Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are on. Graham says the nonbinding resolution has 46 supporters.

###