ARE THEY HEADING FOR SLAUGHTER?
Did you read President Trump’s tweet on the two Buffalo policemen who shoved a 75-year-old demonstrator to the pavement and sent him to the hospital unconscious with a bleeding skull? No? Well here it is:
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment…I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
Now, did you hear the comments by Republican senators the following day, waylaid by reporters with printouts of the Tweet asking them what they thought of their master’s groundless charge? A couple of them (neither up for re-election this year) expressed their feelings about Trump’s tweet in the negative:
“Oh Lord! Ugh!” said Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski (R).
David Thune (R), Senate Majority Whip from South Dakota, was more expansive, though he only kicked the can down the road: “It’s a serious accusation which only should be made with facts and evidence. And I haven’t seen any yet.”
Only Mitt Romney (R) of Utah spoke against the president without hedge or equivocation: “I saw the tweet; it was a shocking thing to say, and I won’t dignify it with any further comment.”
As for the rest of them—well, they were “in a rush” and didn’t have time to give much of an answer.
“I haven’t read the damn thing. I don’t want to hear it,” Senator Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas told reporters.
Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida said, “I don’t read Twitter. I only write on it.”
Senator John Cornyn (R) of Texas, who is up for re-election this November, said “You know, a lot of this stuff just goes over my head.”
Up for re-election…hmmm, could that have something have to do with the Republican senators’ reticence in responding to such a simple question? Possibly. As you know, 23 Republican senators are up for reelection this November, compared to only 11 Democrats. Those numbers by themselves pose a big challenge to the GOP’s keeping control of the Senate, which presently stands at 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two mavericks who sleep with the donkeys. A net loss of four GOP seats would give Dems control of the Senate.
At this moment in time—and it is emphasized here that polls are only good for the day they are taken—GOP prospects of hanging on to the upper body seem to be dimming rapidly.
Most of the Republican seats in the South and the Heartland are safe, secure, not competitive. As for the rest (as of June 17) much GOP sweat is being shed. For good reason, at least at this juncture in the race. Of the 14 states in play, all but one is held by a Republican.
Why don’t the Republicans abandon their elephant totem and adopt a different symbol? Elephants are intelligent, matriarchal, caring, and courageous; Republicans are…not.
Expect an update on the Senate races here after the Fourth of July.