Lest we forget, there were a LOT of Republican senators in 2016 who not only did not endorse the candidacy of Donald J. Trump, but in many cases called for him step down in favor of Mike Pence. Here is a list of those senators from an October 2016 USA Today article. I would wager that very few people remember this list. A couple of my observations about several of them are included in brackets [ ].
- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) [She was defeated for reelection in 2016, being one of the first to personally experience “Trumpenfreude.” She lost by just over 1,000 votes. Support from Candidate Trump would almost certainly have pushed her over the top. I wonder if she regrets her decision in retrospect?]
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) [Could it be that the Joe Manchin, the Democrat senator from West Virginia is more supportive of President Trump that Capito?]
- Susan Collins (R-ME) [One of the original RINOs.]
- Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ) [That guy didn’t even run for reelection in 2018 because his NeverTrump antics dragged his poll numbers down to near single digits in his own state.]
- John McCain (R-AZ) [One of the most virulent anti-Trump Republicans ever, the Devil welcomed him in 2018.]
- Deb Fischer (R-NE) [Did anyone know she is US senator? A nonentity.]
- Cory Gardner (R-CO)
- Mark Kirk (R-IL) [He lost his reelection bid in 2016. More Trumpenfreude.]
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) [Another original RINO.]
- Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Ben Sasse (R-NE)
- Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
- John Thune (R-SD) [The number 3 in the Republican leadership hierarchy in the Senate. Disgraceful.]
- Mike Lee (R-UT) [He could be on to the path to redemption, as noted here.]
Be sure to read the USA Today article linked above to learn exactly what each of them said about President Trump back in 2016. I wonder where they stand today? That’s a long list of anti-Trump Republican senators, and some of them remain anti-Trumpers to this very day, either in public statements of disdain for the President or in tepid support for, or outright resistance to, Trump administration policies.
Just a reminder: 2016 was a binary election, and any Republican not supporting the Republican presidential candidate was effectively giving the nod to Hillary Clinton. Would a REAL Republican walk that plank? Consider where the country would be if Hillary had occupied the Oval Office these last three years! We would know NOTHING about FBI/DoJ corruption, FISA abuse, Democrat corruption in Ukraine, the nearly complete political corruption of legacy media, and countless other revelations elucidated in the Age of Trump. Some of those same corrupt people who were exposed would be serving in a Clinton administration, too. Unthinkable!
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen many (any?) public mea culpas from anyone on the above list, even in light of President Trump’s OUTSTANDING accomplishments, in particular the record confirmation of conservative judges across the land. How will they vote if/when the House Democrats pass their two articles of impeachment and send them to the Senate? And don’t forget that the consummate NeverTrumper John McCain has been replaced by one of equally ill repute in Mitt Romney.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is “positive” that the President will be acquitted. Maybe. I am not inclined to take anything for granted at this point and simply sit, watch, and hope that Republican senators vote to acquit. I’m going to burn up the phone lines to INSIST that they do so – especially those who definitely were NeverTrumpers in 2016. I’m going to repeatedly contact all in the list above, less those whom I noted as having already left the Senate. I suggest you do the same.
The end.