Poor, poor House Republicans. They’re staring down the barrel of big losses on Tuesday, and the president, whose water they’ve carried so eagerly, is turning his back on them. Speaker Paul Ryan has called Donald Trump to beg him to talk about the economy, Politico reports, but even though Trump usually jumps at the chance to take credit for the economy left to him by former President Barack Obama, this time around he’s way too involved in hate-mongering about immigrants to shift focus.
“Trump has hijacked the election,” said one senior House Republican aide of Trump's focus on immigration. “This is not what we expected the final weeks of the election to focus on.”
Really? You didn’t expect that Trump would turn back to racism and hatred and fear, just like he always does?
Revel in the hilarity:
Indeed, some House Republicans say privately that they feel abandoned, as if Trump has given up on them — the likely losers — in order to focus on the Senate. Rubbing salt in the wound, they feel Trump's message to help Senate Republicans in rural, red states is a direct threat to the House GOP's cause in suburban areas.
“His honing in on this message is going to cost us seats,” said one senior House GOP campaign source. “The people we need to win in these swing districts that will determine the majority, it’s not the Trump base; it’s suburban women, or people who voted for [Hillary] Clinton or people who are not hard Trump voters.”
There’s no “as if” about Trump having given up on the likely losers, but it’s also Trump following the same instincts and playbook he always goes to at crunch time. And happily, House Republicans deserve every bit of damage Trump is doing to them (and then some).
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