Having watched Donald Trump burn through state after state with the darkest, most blatantly racist message in a generation of politicians, Republicans are having second thoughts after clinging to Trump like an electoral life vest. In fact, some of them, who dared not give their name, sound downright pissed off.
“This stupid birthright stuff is hard-right fringe and loses us Hispanics and Cubans" in places like California and Florida, one moderate Republican House member told NBC News. “It juices Hispanic turnout in exurbs for potentially one to three points and is another reminder why Trump’s doom and gloom bullshit is so off-putting.”
Huh. You mean referring to some immigrants as “the worst scum in the world” is driving Latinos to the polls?
Naturally, House Speaker Paul Ryan's messaging strategist made the weakest appeal ever via Twitter last weekend for the GOP to sound more positive notes. "Were going to spend all day and weekend talking about the strong economy, right?" Brendan Buck tweeted. Yeah, that'll do it.
Ryan also made a personal appeal to Trump via phone to stick to the economy, according to Politico. But Republicans are likely underestimating the damage Trump's doing. It's not just Latinos, it's the suburbs, where the GOP traditionally holds a big advantage. One GOP strategist, for instance, noted that Rep. John Culberson of Texas was running about four points ahead of Democrat Lizzie Panill Fletcher before Trump started blaring his nativist best. Now, internal polling puts Culberson several points behind. Culberson represents the Houston area, and his Dallas counterpart, GOP Rep. Pete Sessions, is also fighting for his political life.
Even the campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz admitted that Trump's Houston rally two weeks ago hurt them in the suburbs. The New York Times reported:
Mr. Cruz’s allies quietly concede that having Mr. Trump come to Houston last month hurt them, and by extension Mr. Culberson, with moderate voters in Harris County, where the president was trounced.
That Houston rally was the one where Trump declared himself "a nationalist," loud and proud. Gee, hard to believe that didn't sell well to college-educated voters.
After creating an un-checked monster, Republicans are apparently surprised they can't rein him in. One of the best descriptions of Trump running scared this election cycle came from GOP strategist Mike Murphy.
“All his bad characteristics get amplified when he’s in a crunch,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t have any allegiance to the truth or reality to begin with, so he’s drunk on crowds, in a corner and under great political pressure.”
Under pressure, drunk on crowds, delusional, and decompensating ... what could go wrong?
Of course, Republicans could have chosen to take a moral stand against Trump's angry political message targeting immigrants, but they didn't. They're only questioning the strategy now that the polls hold potential peril for them.
Let's just say that if Republicans get trounced Tuesday night on any level in the House and the states and otherwise, they will be reaping exactly what they sowed.
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