Republicans are continuing to distance themselves from former president Donald Trump, and that even includes the Senate, where only one (count ’em — one) Republican has said he’ll support Trump’s efforts to gain the Republican Presidential nomination and a second term in the White House, The Hill [1] reports.
That senator is Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who told reporters earlier this week that he’s all in for Trump and praised the ex-president’s track record in the Oval Office.
It’s okay. You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.
Other senate Republicans are keeping their distance and are skeptical that Trump can win the 2024 election, let alone beat Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the primary.
Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)who has apparently managed to dislodge his head from Trump’s behind, has yet to endorse a Trump run. He did offer praise for Trump’s announcement speech, saying he will be “hard to beat.”
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton [2] surmises that Senate Republicans have shifted to neutral — for right now, anyway — because they are waiting to see who else throws their hat in the ring and if Trump will be hit with a criminal indictment from the Justice Department now that Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel, especially in the days leading up to the 2024 Iowa caucuses.
And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), notably one of Trump’s biggest critics, said nearly everyone in the Senate Republican conference was against the former president announcing his candidacy Tuesday. The worry was that this would create a huge distraction from the Georgia Senate runoff election.
“One senator in a meeting we had this week said, ‘How many in this room want to see President Trump announce he’s running for president today?’ Not one hand up,” Romney added. He was referring to the goings-on at a closed door GOP meeting Tuesday.
An unnamedRepublican senator verified Romney’s anecdote.
“I think we’re going to be looking at the other people who may run,” Romney said.
“I’m the one who believes we have a much stronger bench than bringing out the retired war horse that has lost three in a row,” Romney added, referring to the GOP losing the House majority in 2018, the White House and Senate in 2020 followed by their inability to win back the Senate in 2022.
Romney described Trump as the “900-lb gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party,” after Trump lost to Biden. At the time he also predicted Republicans would remain loyal to Trump.
Romney notes that certainly isn’t the case now.
“Maybe he’s 400-lbs at this stage,” Romney joked.
But the senator isn’t lost on the fact that Trump still wields too much power among some Republicans, with an estimated 30 to 40 percent of Republican voters still supporting him, according to GOP senators.
“He has an avid following, just like anyone who has built as strong an organization as he has,” Romney said. “Many people love him, want to see him succeed. I don’t think it’s the majority of the party, but it may be the plurality, and that’s what he’s counting on.”
And apparently, that’s what the former president has found in Sen. Tuberville, who was elected to the Senate in 2020. Bolton notes he was more than happy to embrace Trump’s attacks on Democrats. The senator is the one who’s “most bullish about Trump’s prospects.”
“I might be his campaign manager,” Tuberville said jokingly after being asked about the lack of support for Trump among his fellow GOP senators.
I’m not “bullish” on Joe Biden but I still prefer him over Trump, Ron DeSantis, and any of the Republicans likely to announce their candidacy for president in 2024. I’m tired of five+ years of fear-mongering, hate, the absolutely wrong kind of Christianity, conspiracy theories, criminality, and all the other craziness Republicans have dragged in thanks to Trump.
I’m tired of the GOP celebrating the uglier aspects of itself.