Following Tuesday’s suburban smackdown of the GOP, Senate Republicans know they have a problem, they're just completely unwilling to actually deal with it. That problem, of course, is Donald Trump. He repels college-educated suburban dwellers—women especially. But in an article from the The Hill, Senate Republicans offer a multitude of solutions none of which broaches the 800-pound gorilla in the room.
“The suburban losses seem to continue in some places,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told The Hill, downplaying the diagnosis. “I think when you look into [it], it’s more about tone and style than it is about policy.” Keep talkin', Lindsey. Any second now, Trump's gonna pivot to a less abrasive “tone and style.”
Graham's wishful thinking harkens back to one of Republicans' well-traveled paths of self-delusion: Forget the gorilla, we just have a messaging problem. No, Senator, you have an epic brand problem fueled in large part by your abysmal messenger.
The gamely Republican senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, was even more coy, calling the GOP's showing on Tuesday night "a bit of a wake-up call" in the suburbs.
But that’s all right, because GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota got a little into the weeds on Republican strategy moving forward. “We’ve got our work out for us for sure in some of those areas,” Thune said of the suburbs. "We got to double down and come up with an argument to help win people back there,” he added, specifically referencing the GOP's drubbing in the Virginia and Pennsylvania suburbs. Clearly, Thune didn't want to give away Republicans' entire playbook in one sitting but couldn't stop himself from brimming over with ideas.
And then there was Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who prescribed simply getting back to passing legislation. How quaint. What might Collins and the GOP's 'grim reaper' be interested in shepherding across the finish line? "I have long argued that we need a legislative agenda that is positive and that focuses on issues like the high cost of prescriptions that really matter to people." Oh, right—Republicans don't actually have a legislative agenda other than killing every bill passed by the House. Rats!
What a shame. Following the GOP's throttling in suburbs across the nation in the 2018 midterms, McConnell acknowledged the problem as he looked ahead to 2020.
“We lost college graduates and women in the suburbs, which led in the House to losses in suburban Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Charleston,” McConnell said as the results of the midterm settled in. “We’re determined not to lose women, certainly not by 19 points, and college graduates in our Senate races. And I don’t think we will.”
This week McConnell made more empty promises. “We’re looking forward to doing well in Kentucky in 2020, and I don’t think anything that happened there Tuesday changes that,” he said. Kentucky may indeed be a fairly safe bet for the GOP in 2020, but that says nothing of Republican chances in swing-state suburbs across the nation.
The only senator who gave a candid answer, spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I think we’ll hold the Senate, but it’s no sure thing by any means,” said the senator.
But even that person failed to address the GOP's biggest hurdle to prevailing in 2020: Donald Trump.