A weakened Trump desperately tries to preserve his delusions of grandeur

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

An enfeebled Donald Trump made a desperate bid this week to snatch victory from the jaws of electoral defeat. Baselessly impugning mail-in voting as a drag on election integrity, Trump offered, "Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

Not only does Trump lack the constitutional authority to do anything of the sort, no one was going for it. Not the pro-Trump co-founder of the ultra conservative Federalist Society, Steven Calabresi, who called it grounds for "immediate impeachment." Not the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which suggested that perhaps Trump should scrap his reelection bid and "let someone run who isn’t looking for an excuse to blame for defeat." And even some vulnerable Senate Republicans up for reelection this cycle managed to part ways with Trump on something for basically the first time ever. 

In case you missed it, Trump is now at the weakest point of his presidency. Facing electoral doom and threatening to sink the GOP with him, some Republicans smell freedom are breaking out the pitchforks early. 

After Trump's 'delay' trial balloon drew a legion of arrows, he was back Thursday afternoon to assure Americans that we "must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!" No, we must not. Hopefully, we will know the result of the presidential contest that night, but there's nothing constitutionally imperative about getting immediate results. 

What is true is that the longer the results are delayed, the longer Trump will have to sow the seeds of doubt in Americans’ minds about the election’s integrity. Trump voters are already predisposed to refusing to accept the results of November's election, with 55% of respondents in a Yahoo/YouGov survey saying they would not accept a close election result if Biden wins due to "an advantage in mail-in votes.” And Trump is already very actively laying the groundwork for that skepticism to take hold, with a particular focus on “mail-in voting,” which is the same as absentee voting even though Trump likes to pretend there’s some meaningful distinction. 

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump wrote in his deranged “delay” tweet.

As the Washington Post reported Thursday, Trump has "attacked mail voting nearly 70 times since late March in interviews, remarks and tweets, including at least 17 times this month." Naturally mail-in/absentee voting are also the safest way for Americans to vote amid the pandemic. 

But pre-doubting the election results isn't just a strategy for Trump, it's also a psychological necessity for someone who's entire persona and sense of self-worth is delicately balanced on a mythical house of cards. Trump's whole adult existence has been nothing but a deceptive smoke-and-mirrors fabrication aimed at convincing others of his greatness. But along the way, Trump fell for his own delusions of grandeur, and now it's imperative to his being that he safeguard them at all costs. Losing fair and square simply isn't an option for someone who's convinced himself he's a "killer," a term he inherited from his sociopathic father, Fred Trump.

So when Trump charges that he’s been “very unfairly treated” from the get-go, the media never gives him enough credit, the "fake" polls are undercounting his voters, the "silent majority" will have its say in November, and that a “fixed” and “rigged” election has already been stolen out from under him, it's all of a piece—a function of self-preservation for a man who’s impervious to any reality that undercuts his supposed supremacy.

None of this is to say we should dismiss the strategic side of Trump's persistent "fraud" push. He is pumping the ether full of toxicity about what he’s already declared “the greatest election disaster in history.” And it's surely not beyond Republican lawmakers to survey the post-Election Day GOP ruins and decide, yeah, why not back Trump’s bid to steal the election? Without him, there's nothing left of us.

We must make certain it's perfectly clear that Americans won't stand for his betrayal of our Constitution, our democratic ideals, and our republic. Trump has made perfectly clear for years that he would like to be "president for life" and, given all the investigations awaiting him if he loses, he has more incentive than ever to barricade himself in the White House. As American-Russian journalist Masha Gessen told MSNBC's Joy Reid Friday, "the question of whether he can is really a question of how many enablers he has?" The People must provide a convincing counterbalance to those enablers.

But if Joe Biden wins, it won't matter whether it's a narrow victory or an emphatic rout, Donald Trump will go to his grave believing he was harassed as a candidate, wronged throughout his presidency, and robbed of reelection. When the truth is, he cheated his way into office and spent four years taking everything America was worth and burning it like Monopoly money, just like he did with his daddy’s fortune. Too bad Fred Trump won't be around to bail out the country.

Republicans devolve into party of warring vagrants as prospect of electoral doom looms

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Republican lawmakers long ago surrendered any hint of principle or ideal in subservience to a single man—a mad man at that—who is now dragging their party toward a frightful fate in November. Flailing and rudderless, they have now turned into a ship of warring vagrants wildly trying to save their own hides in an election that could deliver total wreckage to what's left of their party.

As the coronavirus continues to roil the nation, Republicans have no one who's even capable of stepping into the leadership void left by Trump and his aides. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't even turn up on the Senate floor Thursday morning to deliver a vision for stewarding another relief package through Congress, despite the fact that House Democrats passed their version of the bill over two months ago. As Minority Leader Chuck Schumer noted Thursday during a joint press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republicans "dithered" and now congressional lawmakers are "up against a cliff" as expiration of the original relief package looms.

Over in the House, where fringe Republicans have run roughshod over the caucus leadership for a solid decade, Trump's toadies are making war on Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the highest-ranking Republican woman on Capitol Hill whom they apparently deem to be a traitor to their cause—Trump. The House Freedom Caucus is calling on Cheney to step down from her leadership post for daring to defend Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration's outspoken and highest profile infectious disease expert, against Trump's attacks. 

And on the electoral front, retiring GOP Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts officially backed the opponent of one of Trump's most loyal allies—immigration right winger and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Republican prospects for holding the U.S. Senate have dimmed to the point where many Republicans argue a Kobach primary win could jeopardize the GOP majority in November. Kobach famously lost his 2018 bid to become governor of the state to Democrat Laura Kelly. 

As Republicans factionalize over how to move forward with the next relief package, their closed-door quarreling has gone public. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz captured the spotlight Tuesday during a closed-door caucus session, asking, “What in the hell are we doing?"—a widely reported quote about his misgivings over the ballooning price tag of the legislation. But what's perhaps most stunning is that the counterweight to Cruz's argument is coming from right-wing stalwarts like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who advocated for including slightly more relief for struggling Americans in the bill in the hopes of protecting GOP counterparts facing tough reelection bids. 

Naturally, Trump isn't doing anything to quell the GOP controversies erupting into full view. He's deployed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to look over the shoulder of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is once again taking the lead on negotiating the relief package for the White House. Meanwhile, neither Senate Republicans nor White House negotiators have included a single Democrat in their floundering talks over the legislation. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion package in May as Republicans eye a price tag of closer to $1 trillion—and that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of differences that could sink the bill. 

Both Speaker Pelosi and Schumer denounced their exclusion from the GOP talks. "What we have seen so far falls very short of the challenge that we face in order to defeat the virus and to open our schools and to open our economy," Pelosi said their joint press conference.

Schumer added, "Republicans need to pull their head out of the sand, get their act together, sit down with Speaker Pelosi and me, and start negotiating a real package."

Republicans have apparently forgotten that the only way to pass another bill is through bipartisan compromise. But McConnell is such a weak leader that he can't even forge the semblance of some consensus within his own caucus. That’s his job, but McConnell couldn't legislate his way out of a paper bag. The only time McConnell ever manages to keep his caucus in line is when it's in support of his abuse of power. Take, for example, the Senate GOP vote earlier this year to kill the prospect of hearing from any witnesses during the impeachment trial of Trump. Republicans fell in line for that vote at McConnell's strong urging, and now they're all saddled with having acquitted who ultimately botched the pandemic response, stoke racial divisions nationwide, and is now repeatedly siccing unmarked federal troops on peaceful protesters exercising their first amendment rights.

As for the House squabble, Trump stoked divisions Thursday with a tweet targeting Cheney's criticism of his foreign policy, including his plans to pull troops out of Germany and Afghanistan. “Liz Cheney is only upset because I have been actively getting our great and beautiful Country out of the ridiculous and costly Endless Wars,” he tweeted. “I am also making our so-called allies pay tens of billions of dollars in delinquent military costs. They must, at least, treat us fairly!!!”

Cheney responded Thursday by promising she would "continue to speak out" against Trump policies with which she disagreed.

In any case, don't expect the collective GOP meltdown to end anytime soon unless Trump's polling numbers miraculously rebound. And the only way for that to happen is for Trump to start governing—something he's both constitutionally bound to do and constitutionally incapable of doing. 

It’s not just Trump—voters are abandoning the Republican Party like it’s a sinking ship

Posted on (Updated by Kerry Eleveld

Republican Party fortunes have taken a decisive turn for the worse. Gallup released remarkable data Thursday showing a dramatic 13-point shift in party affiliation since the beginning of the year.

In January, the GOP had a two-point edge on Democrats in terms of voters who either identified as Republicans or leaned Republican—47%-45%. Now Democrats and Democratic leaners enjoy an 11-point edge, 50%-39%. Check out the graph below.

What's so stunning is that it's not just Trump shedding support, it's the entire Republican brand. Think about that. Heading into the GOP-led Senate's January impeachment trial, more Americans generally embraced Republicans than Democrats. But after Senate Republicans acquitted Trump in early February in their sham, no-witness trial, party support shifts in favor of Democrats.

By March, as the coronavirus starts grabbing more headlines, Democrats gain a two-point edge. Democrats then nudge up slightly in April.

But around May, Republicans really begin to tank. That plunge comes in the wake of news in late April that the coronavirus death toll surpassed the 58,220 Americans who died in the Vietnam War. In early May, it becomes clear that Trump and the White House have simply surrendered to the virus and pivoted toward reopening state economies without any national testing/tracing plan in place. At that point, Republicans at both the state and federal levels become willing accomplices in Trump's reckless scheme to reopen America before any of the proper tools are in place. 

In addition, George Floyd's brutal death on May 25 at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparks national outrage, and Trump starts implementing an authoritarian crackdown to combat nationwide protests, most of which are peaceful. 

It's during that late May/June timeframe that GOP affiliation plummets five points in a month while Democratic affiliation rises three points. Just wow.

Party affiliation does fluctuate in the Gallup surveys dating back to 1991, but the outfit says "double-digit Democratic advantages have been relatively uncommon." Democrats held a 10-point advantage in January 2019 just after they routed Republicans in the 2018 midterms.

"Four months before Election Day, Democrats appear to be as strong politically now as they were in 2018 when they reclaimed the majority in the House of Representatives and gained seven governorships they previously did not hold," Gallup writes.

Congrats, Republicans. Couldn't be happening to a nicer crew of folks. 

Make that 20,000 lies on Trump’s unending bender of an effort to rewrite reality

Posted on (Updated by Kerry Eleveld

It's fair to say at this point that Donald Trump isn't living in the real world. His mind is so overrun with conspiracy theories, half-baked truths, and utter B.S. that he has now spewed 20,000 verifiable lies, according to The Washington Post.

Like anything, practice makes perfect, and Trump's rate of lying is nearly double what it was in the first couple years of his presidency. The Post's calculations show that while Trump was lying an average of 12 times a day in the first 827 days of his presidency, he has averaged closer to 23 lies a day in the last 14 months. 

Trump lie spree has partially been fueled by cataclysmic events such as his impeachment by the House of Representatives, the coronavirus crisis, and the aftermath of the senseless killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. In just several months, the pandemic has accounted for some 1,000 of Trump's lies, while the impeachment loosed some 1,200 lies from Trump's cakehole. 

But let's not overlook the possibility that Trump's loose relationship with reality has simply become more fraught over time.

Whatever way one slices it, Trump's the lyingest liar of a president America has ever seen. 

Senate Republicans recommit themselves to Trump—no matter how much he endangers the country

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Sure, Donald Trump is unfit. Sure, Trump may have begged yet another country—China—to help him win reelection. Sure, Trump is emotionally damaged and intellectually addled, according to a written account by his former national security adviser John Bolton. 

But does that matter to the Senate Republicans who cosigned Trump's presidency by saving him from conviction without hearing from a single witness? Are you high? No effing way do they have the integrity required for a little self-examination, according to CNN reporting. They're in the tank for Trump—always have been, always will be, no matter what.

Wanna give Senate Republicans the boot? Give $2 right now to say “Bye Felicia” this November.

Asked whether Senate Republicans should have sought to secure Bolton's testimony now that his book is out, the ever-reflective Sen. Ron Johnson responded, "No," adding, "We never should have had an impeachment trial."

Of course, that's not what Bolton said. Based on Trump's persistent pattern of placing his own personal and electoral needs over duty to the country, Bolton said Trump should have been investigated and impeached for more, not less. Trump engaged in "obstruction of justice as a way of life," as Bolton said, referring to his interventions in criminal investigations for personal favors.

Still, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who's likely one of the top two most-endangered GOP senators seeking reelection, had the nerve to speak up and blame House Democrats for not taking Bolton to court over this unwillingness to testify. "The House didn't think it was important," Sen. Gardner quipped. What a weasel. Bolton, who's no hero, did publicly express his willingness to testify in front of the GOP-led Senate—the Republican caucus just refused to hear from him, or any other witnesses for that matter.

The sole Republican senator to express regret about not hearing from Bolton also voted in favor of having witnesses at the trial. “I wish we had a trial with the people testifying under oath,” Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told reporters.

But most Republicans did the only logical thing one could do in the face of a 500-page manuscript documenting the myriad ways in which Trump is selling out and endangering the country: They refused to comment. 

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, however, really went the extra mile, affirming that he's more convinced than ever that Trump's the right guy for the job despite begging China to buy more agricultural products in order to secure his reelection. "Different people use different sales techniques," Barrasso offered. Whether they’re legal or not apparently isn’t relevant. "Every president has, one way or another, thought they ought to be reelected. I think President Trump should be reelected. I support his reelection, I'm for it."

Do Republicans even know the Constitution exists? They are  proving themselves more useless by the day, and have no business stewarding the country.

The worse Trump does, the more pathetic Senate Republicans’ blind fealty to him looks

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Republican lawmakers are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to figure out how to save their own hides without attracting the rage and fury of Donald Trump.

Four of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans have already disappeared Trump from their TV ads as if the bloviator in chief doesn't actually exist. In essence: Trump? Yeah, never heard of him, except that one time I voted to clear him of all impeachment charges without ever hearing from a single witness.

That would be Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Susan Collins of Maine. All of those Republicans, while trying to dodge Trump's ire, have figured out there's no upside to overtly aligning themselves with a guy whose approvals are cratering as he blows it on the nation's two biggest crises. 

But stuck in the middle are GOP senators like Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas, and David Perdue of Georgia—who haven't yet reached the point of no return where they realize Trump is clearly dooming them. 

Perdue, for instance, wasn't willing to answer reporter questions on Trump spinning conspiracy theories about a 75-year-old activist who was shoved to the ground by Buffalo police officers. But asked about attacks on Perdue's fealty to Trump, his spokesperson offered: "Bring it on," according to the AP.

Anti-Trumper and GOP strategist Tim Miller calls Republicans "hostages" but is still mystified that they couldn't find the basic resolve to separate themselves from Trump's insane attack on an elderly protester. 

“I’m not asking them to become Twitter trolls,” Miller said. “But I don’t see why they don’t take opportunities to put a little distance between themselves and the president.”

Of course, that's how we arrived here in the first place. Republicans are truly spineless—they haven't shown a lick of integrity or concern for their oaths of office since the day Trump took office. Just reckless acquiescence to a man who is clearly physically and mentally not well. So the idea that they might show a bit of dignity or put country first at risk of drawing a mean tweet from Trump is just unthinkable to them.

What remains to be seen is how many Senate Republicans running for reelection this November are willing to get on a stage with Trump. Remember, the last GOP politicians in tough races to do some high-profile campaigning with Trump were 2019 GOP gubernatorial candidates Matt Bevin in Kentucky and Eddie Rispone in Louisiana. They both lost.

Trump mysteriously disappears from Senate Republican campaign ads

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

In early February, all but one Republican senator outright voted to acquit Donald Trump of impeachment charges without so much as hearing from one single witness. But judging by Senate Republican campaign ads four months later, you'd be forgiven if you thought Trump had been convicted and booted from office.  

In 15 campaign ads released since March by Senate Republicans in competitive races, pictures of Trump were nowhere to be found in any of them, according to a review by the Daily Beast. Trump managed to get a single mention in a late April ad by North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis bragging that the senator had been appointed to the now irrelevant White House coronavirus task force. That ad has likely already been benched since Trump's all but tweeted “uncle” at the virus. 

Tillis, who has voted with Trump more than 93% of the time, has gone through quite the transformation in the last several months. When Senate Republicans voted to save Trump's presidency, Tillis released a Trump-centric ad defending that vote, touting Trump's trade deals, and reminding voters that Trump would indeed be on the ballot in November. Oops.  

In a do-over this week, Tillis sympathizes with the economic difficulties many residents in his state are facing while entirely abandoning Trump and his happy talk about jumpstarting the economy and "TRANSITIONING TO GREATNESS."

A similar erasure of Trump is happening in ads from GOP incumbents in Maine, Arizona, Colorado, and Montana. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who's voted with Trump 89% of the time, skips over Trump completely while hyping his bipartisan work with Democratic Gov. Jared Polis to confront the coronavirus. Maine Sen. Susan Collins appears to have switched parties in one ad featuring her alongside Democratic senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Looks like GOP senators took to heart that memo released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee advising against defending Trump. None of these senators are trying to defend the indefensible, even after they voted to keep his presidency alive. Instead, many have taken the memo's advice to scapegoat China for Trump's failures at every turn.

Even Arizona Sen. Martha McSally—who has voted with Trump 95% of the time—moved away from ads earlier this year skewering her Democratic challenger for supporting Trump’s impeachment and removal. Now, McSally's busy playing up the business ties of Democrat Mark Kelly, who's trouncing her in the polls, to China. 

Sure, Senate Republicans are fundraising off Trump in targeted emails, but they're not touching him with a 10-foot pole in their large-scale ads. Expect to see more of the mysteriously disappearing Trump since more GOP Senate seats are in play by the week, it seems. Trump's simply too toxic to touch—too bad all the Senate Republicans up for reelection this cycle put their personal stamp of approval on Trump with their acquittal votes.

Below are several examples of recent ads.

Sen. Cory Gardner

YouTube Video

Sen. Martha McSally

YouTube Video

Sen. Susan Collins

YouTube Video

Prospects for Senate Republicans in November just keep getting worse, worse, and worse

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Senate Republicans just can't put out the fires Donald Trump keeps setting fast enough. At first, their effort to maintain their majority in November centered around defending four main seats in Maine, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina while hoping for a pickup of Sen. Doug Jones' seat in Alabama.

But Trump's cratering approvals and his spectacularly horrible leadership skills in a crisis just keep sucking more states into play.  

Are you just plain sick of Senate Republicans? Do something about it! Give $2 right now to the effort to kick Mitch McConnell and his GOP majority to the curb. 

For starters, Trump's approvals keep sinking. Gallup just put him at 39% in a poll taken from May 28 to June 4, slipping 10 points from 49% in late March. Notably, only 47% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy according to Gallup's latest survey, which is a steep tumble from 63% approval in January. The economy has always been Trump's strongest issue area.

Bloomberg News reports that Trump huddled with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday, the same day Gallup's new poll was released. Neither one of them disclosed their private conversation, but it hardly matters—Republicans are irrevocably tied to Trump at this point. Not only have they simply surrendered like a bunch of lemmings, they built him into the lawless monster he's become and then voted to save his presidency without even fielding a proper impeachment trial.

What that means is that Democrats' pickup opportunities in the Senate just keep expanding beyond those seats held by Sens. Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, Martha McSally, and Thom Tillis. Overall, Republicans are defending 23 Senate seats to just 12 for Democrats. The new states that Democrats are eyeing include Iowa, Montana, and Georgia. Here are some basic data points for each:

Iowa: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put $7.3 million into TV/digital ads targeting Sen. Joni Ernst's seat, with two recent polls showing Ernst's Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, up by several points. 

Montana: The DSCC also directed $5.2 million to Montana to help Democrat Steve Bullock, the state's current governor, topple incumbent GOP Sen. Steve Daines.

Georgia: No DSCC action here yet, but Cook Political Report recently re-rated incumbent Sen. David Perdue's seat to "Lean R," making it more competitive. Ernst's and Daines' seats are also in the Lean Republican category, as is the seat of the other Georgia GOP senator, Kelly Loeffler. 

Other possibilities remain, such as in Kansas, where GOP right-winger Kris Kobach—who lost his 2018 gubernatorial bid—could become the Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts. 

Republicans are also putting money into defending states beyond the original four. The Senate Leadership Fund, a McConnell-aligned super PAC, reserved $10.1 million in radio/TV space this month in Montana, and Iowa was part of the PAC's $67.1 million ad buy in March. That buy also included Arizona, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, and Kentucky (McConnell's seat!).

A spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee made the laughable argument that once more money was spent defining these Democratic challengers, they wouldn't look so hot.

“A lot of these Democrats haven’t had much money spent against them yet and once their records are litigated voter opinion will turn against them,” Jesse Hunt told Bloomberg.

The idea that any of these Democrats' records could be worse than voting to save Trump's presidency just in time for him to screw up a pandemic response and a national reckoning on race is sheer folly. Senate Republicans can spend all the money they want—they will rise and fall with Donald Trump. He is their fate.

Senate Republicans saved Trump’s presidency. Now they’re ducking questions on his use of force

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

A day after Donald Trump deployed police force against peaceful protesters outside the White House for a photo op, the cat's got GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell's tongue.

Asked Tuesday about Trump's threat of unleashing military force on American cities, McConnell dodged, declining to answer reporter questions as he exited the Senate floor.

McConnell was uniquely responsible for saving Trump's presidency, convincing his caucus to not only acquit Trump of impeachment charges but to do so without even hearing from witnesses at the show trial they staged. 

As law enforcement officer-turned-Congresswoman Val Demings wrote on Twitter Monday night: "When we impeached this president, we warned that he was a dictator in waiting. I believe now what I believed then: this president is a threat to our democracy, our families, and to us."

As I have noted before, McConnell and Senate Republicans are uniquely responsible for turning Trump into the monster he is today precisely because they have condoned every single one of his lawless actions, from colluding with Russia to enlisting Ukraine's help in stealing the upcoming election to blocking all congressional oversight.

Now Trump wants to use the U.S. troops to deploy military force against American citizens and they've got nothing to say?

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas went a step further, criticizing Joe Biden's speech Tuesday morning as a campaign stunt.

"What we expect from leaders is to try to unify us, not point the finger of blame," Cornyn told Fox News. Is he f-cking kidding? Trump has spent his entire presidency sowing division among Americans and blaming everyone in the world but himself for his unprecedented string of failures. 

A quick check of the Twitter feeds around 11:30 AM from Sens. Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, and Thom Tillis turns up zilch about any of the events Monday night or Trump's threat of force against American citizens.

Through their silence, Senate Republicans are complicit.

They are embracing the dictatorial tactics of Trump without saying a word, just like they have condoned every other lawless act Trump has committed since setting foot in the Oval Office.

They must be voted out because they clearly no longer support democracy.  

Senate Republicans made Trump a monster. Americans deserve answers

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

When Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas asked me last week whether I had any burning questions to ask at the White House press briefings, I had an immediate sense of revulsion at the idea of being in that press room. Even though I spent several Obama-era years as a White House correspondent, nothing about the idea of sitting in that COVID-infected room only to be lied to by Trump's latest media hack sounded even remotely enticing or worthwhile.

But after reflecting on my reticence, I realized there was a place I'd like to be wandering around asking questions: Congress. Specifically, for a journalist looking to make newsworthy inquiries, Senate Republicans are the people to be bird-dogging, buttonholing, and peppering with questions. That's where the juice is this election cycle.

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Practically anything at all Senate Republicans say about Trump right now is newsworthy, particularly those in tight reelection bids this year. Naturally, I'm thinking of Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, David Perdue of Georgia, and others too. Precisely because they are the caucus that voted to save Trump's presidency and keep him at the helm of the country's pandemic response, reporters should make Senate Republicans own up to that decision and either stand by it or flee. And Trump offers a never-ending stream of material with which to work.

For instance, do any of them regret voting to acquit Trump without even staging a real trial? Gardner pitched a fit last week because the GOP caucus was leaving town without acting on more coronavirus relief—inaction initially backed by both Trump and McConnell. "Senator Gardner, do you stand by your vote to keep Trump in charge of the national response to the coronavirus?" Gardner could either run down a hallway or say that wasn't what the impeachment vote was about. "But you voted to keep Trump in charge of the country without hearing from any witnesses, right? Has he proven worthy of the vote of confidence you gave him?" Don't Coloradans deserve to know how their junior senator grades Trump's performance over the pandemic response?

As a reporter, when you know approximately the type of response you're going to get, the newsworthiness is usually about the phrasing of the question. Not every interaction goes as anticipated and by no means do they all end up being newsworthy. Plus, sometimes as a reporter, you're really just trying to gauge the progress of certain legislation, etc. But just five months out from November, my full attention would be trained on the electoral fate of the Senate.

"Senator Ernst, has Trump come through on the promises he made to Iowa farmers? Now that he's blaming China for spread of the coronavirus, do you think he'll really be able to seal the trade deal?" No, he won't. But don't Iowans deserve to know whether Ernst thinks Trump will deliver for them? "Senator, why isn't Trump prioritizing the trade deal over scapegoating China? Is finger pointing more important than saving Iowa farms from going under?"

I'm a little rusty, but you get the idea. "Senator Collins, if you really wanted action on coronavirus relief last week, why are you still voting to rubber stamp Trump's nominees?" Collins could be leveraging her votes in order to get action on more relief, or she could easily be registering protest votes and she’s not. One could also ask at-risk senators about the comments of other senators and GOP leadership, in particular. "Senator Collins, do you agree with Leader McConnell that there's zero urgency about bringing more relief to Mainers and other Americans?" (Mitch McConnell is currently changing his tune on that relief, but time is still of the essence.) Of course, McConnell is up for reelection too in Kentucky and while unseating him will be tough, he has more than just the GOP caucus to think about—he still has to get himself reelected. 

The Senate GOP is actually a total mess if reporters would just take the time to explore the fissures. Does Sen. Perdue think his governor made the right call to reopen Georgia? And if he does, does he support the notion that Trump should butt out of the state's business since Trump himself left it up to the governors? (Trump initially objected to Gov. Brian Kemp’s rush to reopen.)

Again, there's a million places to go. Do GOP senators support Trump promoting conspiracy theories and piddling away precious hours on the links right as America was reaching the deeply unsettling milestone of 100,000 deaths due to coronavirus? Do they worry that Trump still hasn’t developed a legit testing, tracking, and containment plan in case of a second wave? Every day, there's something more to ask about, and there's almost always something state specific—because Trump is a terrible politician and he is constantly hanging out GOP lawmakers to dry.

Every one of those GOP senators should have to answer for their failures to rein Trump in. They should all be held accountable for the fact that their repeated failures to act in the country's best interests helped turn Trump into the incomprehensible monster he is today. If you're a reporter in D.C. covering electoral politics and asking these kinds of questions isn't your mission in your life, you're entirely missing the biggest story of the election. Constituents should hear what Republican senators have to say for themselves. After all, Americans will be determining the fate of the GOP majority this coming November and they deserve answers.