A new PPP survey of North Carolina, for instance, showed Trump running 4 points behind Joe Biden, 46%-50%, but incumbent GOP Sen. Thom Tillis was running an 8-point deficit against Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, 39%-47%.
Republican strategist and anti-Trumper Tim Miller tweeted out those results Thursday, adding, “One thing I heard repeatedly from consultants on GOP senate races is that with a couple exceptions Trump is actually running ahead of them on the ballot right now.” In other words, Trump may be sucking wind right now, but Senate Republicans are sucking worse.
Cook Political’s Walter reported a similar Trump effect on House GOP candidates. Even though Trump is “running behind” in districts he claimed handily in 2016, one Republican operative told Walter, “I’d be surprised if any House GOP challenger is able to outperform Trump—they are tied to him.”
Senate Republicans have continued with full erasure of Trump from their campaign ads, as if they can somehow separate themselves from a guy who floods the media scape with an endless stream of stupid. GOP consultants—apparently unconcerned that Americans are dying by the tens of thousands—continue to counsel GOP senators to avoid upsetting Trump at all costs while trying put daylight between him and themselves.
That has led to cringeworthy media moments like when Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst praised Trump for “stepping forward” on the pandemic response even as the official U.S. death toll hit 130,000. Ernst, like her GOP colleagues, seems to be betting on the fact that none of her constituents are capable of reading.
In fact, in trying to ignore Trump and focus on anything from jobs to manufacturing to China, Senate Republicans are doing precisely what landed the nation here in the first place—pretending that the madman they’ve allowed to devastate the country doesn’t actually exist. None of them actually have the guts or integrity to call him out, so they sit on their hands as he ensures maximal destruction of America.
Senate Republicans already have blood on their hands from their inaction and base pandering, and by Election Day, their cowardice will be responsible for an untold loss of life. Voters seem pretty ticked off about that, and whatever GOP consultants are selling, trying to step a couple inches away from Trump isn’t going to put food on anyone’s table or bring back anyone’s dearly missed loved one(s). Yet Republican senators remain unmoved. Retaining power and winning reelection is still their most important priority, even when weighed against savings lives. They deserve nothing less than to pay dearly for that depravity at the ballot box in November.