GOP Senators are starting to show some bite after a month of deepening embarrassment, and honestly, it’s about time. Last week, Todd Blanche’s confirmation looked like it was dead in the water after two Republicans in the Senate—Thom Tillis and John Cornyn—stood firm on their refusal to push Blanche through after he failed to deliver specifics on Tr*mp’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund for J6 rioters.
Overnight, the slush fund was quietly killed though perhaps not permanently, and Tr*mp cut a deal to make sure neither he nor any of his family members can face an IRS audit seemingly in exchange for crushing the controversial payout plan.
But that wasn’t the only problem with Blanche’s nomination. As usual with anything Tr*mp does, the shadow of Epstein showed up to cast a pall over the confirmation proceedings, and now, it looks like GOP Senators are finally feeling spooked enough to show some resistance. Especially since certain midterm races that seemed to be on lock for Republicans are looking a lot less certain. In Texas, James Talarico took a three-point lead over the Tr*mp-backed Ken Paxton in recent polling. Democratic challengers hold a slim lead over their GOP counterparts in North Carolina and Nebraska, along with the swing states of Iowa and Ohio, making the threat of a “blue wave” much realer for Republicans. And this time, they know exactly who to blame for the shift.
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For Senator Thom Tillis, one of Tr*mp’s most vocal critics in the House, the choice is clear: abandon Tr*mp, or lose your race. According to reporting from The Hill, Tillis told his potential replacement Michael Whatley that it would be wise to “distance” himself from the President.
Meanwhile, Tr*mp himself isn’t helping the situation by railing against the Senate in public. He recently told a Georgia audience that the Senate “is a place you send things when you want them to die.” Which immediately pissed a few other GOP Senators all the way off, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who said Tr*mp continues to cause “disruption” in Congress as Republicans realize their strength in numbers.
“It certainly doesn’t give the appearance that there is good communication coming from the president and the administration with Congress, and that’s a problem,” she said of the ongoing feud. “Supposedly we’re all supposed to be on the same page.”
In the past, Tr*mp’s refusal to take no for an answer worked on a cowed Congress ready to buckle to his demands to stay in power. Now, the tables have turned: allegiance to Tr*mp is exactly the thing that’s losing Republicans their state races. Between the slush fund, the SAVE act, the endless White House ballroom fiasco, and the looming shadow of the Epstein files, Tr*mp’s presidential legacy is tainted past the point of repair for newly emboldened Republicans trying to hold on to their majority.
In the ominous words of Senator Jim Justice, the Republican rift in both branches is “gonna make things much, much, much worse because we’re gonna lose seats and that will make it worse for the president.”
Don’t threaten us with a good time!
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