Republicans are reportedly worried about the consequences Trump’s presidency will have on their seats. They should be.
In November 2016, the Republicans were on Cloud 9. The party had taken back both the Senate and the House, had won the presidency and was perfectly positioned to fill the open Supreme Court seat with a conservative judge (and since then, conservative Neil Gorsuch has indeed been appointed). Everything was going their way. The Americans had sent the message loud and clear: we want change.
A few months later, it’s becoming very clear that this wasn’t the change Americans wanted at all. Republicans have fumbled with every step they’ve taken since Nov. 8, doing everything apparently in their power to lose those seats in the Nov. 2018 mid-term elections.
At the Republican National Convention’s spring meeting, the party members apparently spent the three-day conference battling over concerns that Trump’s erratic behavior, poor decision making and childish Twitter rants were lowering the image of the GOP. Gee, ya think?
Among the topics discussed were his lack of political experience, the number of Republican-controlled districts where Clinton won the popular vote (apparently there’s many) and the fact that midterm elections tend to punish the party in the White House. All in all, they paint a foreboding picture for themselves in the 2018 election, and that’s taking into account the GOP’s stunning lack of self-awareness.
In addition, the conference discussed special elections that would take place in Montana and Georgia that could cost them valuable Republican seats as well. In the Georgia special election, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff is just ahead of Republican candidate Karen Handel in polls for the district seat. In Montana, GOP candidate Greg Gianforte was heard on tape praising the healthcare law, which many predict could cost him the election.
Other hits not necessarily brought up at the convention: their unconstitutional Muslim ban, the laughable attempts at repealing Obamacare that have included increasingly worse suggestions and the repeated attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, even though it has an impeccable credit report.
Oh, and not to mention that if they ever do get the American Health Care Act passed, it will certainly cost them another significant chunk of their reliable voting block. The proposed plan is set to strip millions of Americans of affordable health care, including and especially the poor rural Americans that voted for Trump in the first place. Once the Republican passes their health care act, those Americans are gonna be pretty pissed.
In March, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the 2018 elections would be a “bloodbath” if the GOP did not successfully repeal and replace Obamacare. I have a more accurate prediction for Ryan: if you do, it will be a bloodbath. Perhaps we’re both right - perhaps the GOP has landed itself in a position where no matter what, voters are going to kick them out of office. Perhaps Democrats have a guaranteed victory in 2018.
With the GOP in control and Trump at the helm, Washington has become an international laughingstock. The American voters aren’t going to settle for another two years of this.