Not every GOP lawmaker is running on Donald Trump…..
Playbook: “With 35 days left until Election Day, House Republicans have found a bizarre phenomenon. Around the country, President Trump is above water in several House districts in which the GOP is struggling.”
“Why? Top figures in the party tell us this: Most of their members are stuck in the mushy middle when it comes to their political identity. They don’t totally align with the president, so they have trouble exciting part of the base, but they’re not far enough from the president to pull in undecided, middle-of-the-road voters who have soured on the president.”
All?Of course not.
95% or so?Trump supporters down the line.
More minutiae that is of no importance.
Allan Fung, the Republican Mayor of Cranston, R.I., is caught in a cleft stick in his campaign to unseat Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo (who as a moderate Clintonian has no problem, of course, emphasizing how much she opposes the Trump Administration’s policies, something that both Clinton and Sanders supporters can get behind, in addition to many independents).
Mayor Fung also faces the chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign, Joe Trillo, a former leader of the tiny GOP caucus in the R.I. House of Representatives. Joe Trillo is just as (if not more) enthusiastic in his support for Trump as the Governor is in her opposition.
So, if Mayor Fung attacks the Administration too vigorously or too often, he may lose a vital chunk of votes to Joe Trillo (currently polling below 10%). But if he doesn’t distinguish himself from Trump clearly enough, he abandons a huge middle ground to the Governor (who it must be remembered is the first Democratic governor of otherwise-deep-blue R.I. since 1994).
One of the frequently-aired commercials here (financed by the Dem. Govs’ Assn) focuses on Allan Fung’s attendance at Trump’s inauguration, wearing a pro-Trump watchcap, ending with the line that Rhode Island doesn’t need a “Donald Trump fan-boy” for Governor.
So Allan Fung just fudges.
¶ A similar quandary also faces Robert Flanders, the Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), although Flanders is not beset by a significant pro-Trump rival.
In a quote on Political Wire Jeff Flake has said he intends to stay imvolved in politics.
My guess is he will be a regular commentator on MSNBC or CNN presenting the “Republican angle”.
That’s pretty much the only career path of a Republican who dares question the Cult of Trump.
Lindsay Graham saw that handwriting on the wall and picked up his MAGA pom poms!
In my view, Flakes political career is over
Republicans will forever brand him as a traitor.
Like you say he can become a commentator, write another book or maybe be part of a ticket in some futile alternative Republican presidential bid ala Evan McMullin in 2016.
That’s about it.