Why GOP senators cling to Trump — and it's not fear of his base
Stephen H. Provost
There’s a reason Senate Republicans aren’t willing to cut ties with Donald Trump just yet.
It’s not the same calculus that’s being used in the House, where seats are up for grabs every two years and Trump can threaten to “primary” anyone who runs afoul of him or his minions. After all, senators have six years between elections, so they’re not nearly as vulnerable to Trump’s whims and blustrations (not a word, but it really fits) as House members are.
House Republicans have been quick to cozy up to Trump, so they can avoid his “wrath of con.” But most GOP senators, you’ll notice, have tried to walk a fine line by refusing to either embrace or condemn him — apart from radical-righters like Two-Face Ted and Gone Johnson (who I’m convinced is really the My Pillow guy in disguise).
What’s their game?
It’s simple, really. Remember those memes with George W. Bush smiling and waving, captioned “Miss me yet?” There was even a billboard of it. Senators like Mitch McConnell, who are adept at playing the long game, haven’t shifted their focus from pleasing their corporate cash-cow donors by serving up policies that squeeze the 99 percent.
That’s why McConnell shot down Trump’s $2,000 stimulus-check idea, and why he’s fighting Joe Biden’s $1.9 billion package. The less money GOP corporatists give to regular Americans, the more they have to spend on kickbacks to their rich supporters, a la that huge soak-the-rich tax cut they passed a couple of years back.
But it could always be worse, and Trump’s continued presence reminds their opponents of this. He’s their bad cop to their not-as-bad-by-comparison cop.
“Remember ol’ W? He wasn’t so bad. It’s true that he dragged us into a needless war and helped trigger the Great Recession, but Trump did even worse with COVID, and January 6 would never have happened under Bush. So watch out. Unless you play ball with us, we’ll give the Trumpster our full-throated endorsement and unleash him on you. That’s why we didn’t convict him. We wanted the threat of him running in 2024, because we knew it would scare the shit out of you, so you’d keep kowtowing to us and our corporate money men.”
GOP senators are institutionalists, but the institution they’re protecting isn’t Congress, it’s Wall Street.
Trump’s the perfect cover for their continued shenanigans. As long as Trump’s around, their opponents will view them as the lesser of two evils. Trump’s fascist/populist anarchy is the sword of Damocles they’re holding over our heads. If he goes away completely, we’ll be reminded that we don’t miss W.
Or having them in control of the Senate.
Not even just a little.
Stephen H. Provost is a former journalist and author of three books about the Trump presidency, available on Amazon at www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RC7L8X1.