GOP Strategists Don’t Want Senate Candidates to Appear with Trump But Risk His “Wrath”

Republicans Call the Imperative to Join  Trump At Rallies a “A Terrible Situation” For Vulnerable Candidates Who Have Failed to Show Independence from President

GOP strategists do not want vulnerable Senate incumbents appearing with President Trump and are advising “to avoid being photographed” but fear his “wrath” against down-ballot candidates who try to separate from the top of the ticket. The admission again reveals how Republicans view Trump as a liability but have not demonstrated any independence from the increasingly unpopular president. 

Trump has threatened Republicans who try to distance themselves from the president, making it clear that candidates who do will “pay a heavy price” and has “vowed to retaliate against defectors.” The GOP incumbents on the ballot have refused to hold Trump accountable, including for “pleading” with China for re-election help, his calls to slow down coronavirus testing, the tear gassing of peaceful protesters, and the unpopular decision to keep special enrollment closed in the middle of a public health crisis.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Washington Post: Trump rallies in red-state America — and faces a sea of empty blue seats

By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa 

June 20, 2020

Key Points:

• Several advisers to embattled Republican senators up for reelection said privately this past week that they are struggling to balance what they see as an electoral imperative to demonstrate independence from the president with the pressure they feel to appear with Trump at his rallies.

• “It’s a terrible situation,” said one of these Republican strategists, who said one solution is for candidates to give speeches before the president arrives to avoid being photographed together. “If you’re onstage in a MAGA hat smiling wide, the Democrats will make it an ad in a second.”

Read the full story here.

VICE: Trump’s Poll Numbers Are So Bad the GOP Is Starting to Panic About a ‘Wipeout’

By Cameron Joseph

June 18, 2020

Key Points:

• President Trump’s poll numbers have never been worse, and Republicans are starting to panic that he could be headed to a historic wipeout that could drag the rest of the party down with him.

• One GOP strategist involved in multiple congressional races said that a recent all-staff conference call to touch base on their own races filled them with growing alarm.

• Republicans say that Trump is getting blown out with independent voters and continues to drop with female voters, with white women who lack college degrees moving away from him. Some have also seen a concerning erosion with senior citizens as well as gen-X voters.
  
• “It’s as dire polling-wise as it’s ever been for Republicans in the Trump era and if something doesn’t change it’s not going to be a pleasant November for Republicans,” said one Senate GOP strategist.

• Democrats need to net three seats, and both parties expect Democrats to lose Alabama and win Arizona. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is fighting an uphill battle in a state where Trump’s numbers are abysmal. That would leave them two seats short, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) next on the list. Collins’ bipartisan appeal has waned in recent years and she’s been neck-and-neck in recent polling. Tillis is expected to run even with or slightly behind Trump in his state, and Trump is currently losing in North Carolina.

• But the map appears to be expanding for Democrats, with races that once looked like reaches suddenly looking very close. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) trailed in a quality recent public poll that had Trump slightly ahead, and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) faces a dogfight against Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D). If Trump loses Georgia, the seats held by Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) could be vulnerable as well. The lone GOP target outside Alabama, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), has little to worry about if Biden is comfortably winning his state.

• “It looks pretty ominous right now in the Senate,” said a GOP strategist involved in multiple races. “They just have so many opportunities and the polling right now is so bad.”

• One GOP strategist who’d expressed less worry than many others called immediately after seeing the news of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s blockbuster accusations that Trump, beginning the conversation with two words: “Holy shit.”

• “Are we at the bottom or has the bottom not even dropped out yet?” wondered another strategist. “I don’t know what gets us out of this. People are probably just fucking sick of it.”

Read the full story here.

POLITICO: ‘My biggest risk’: Trump says mail-in voting could cost him reelection

By Alex Isenstadt

June 19, 2020

Key Points:

• Now, with Republicans fighting to keep their Senate majority, lawmakers running in competitive races are having to decide whether to align themselves with the president or risk his wrath by creating daylight. Trump made clear those who choose the latter will pay a heavy price.

• Joined by top aides, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump put Senate Republicans on notice: Running away from him would only trigger a revolt by his loyalists.

Read the full story here.

###