GOP Limping toward Finish without DDT

A dozen senators struggle in their 2020 reelection, and Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) attacked some of them, perhaps because he doesn’t like “losers.” At a private party for donors, he said:

“There are a couple senators I can’t really get involved in. I just can’t do it. You lose your soul if you do. I can’t help some of them. I don’t want to help some of them.”

GOP strategists believe DDT’s divisive rhetoric and low poll numbers may endanger a GOP Senate majority. DDT also thinks the Republicans “are going to take back the House.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) summarized DDT’s problem:

“In retrospect, I wish the president might have turned his marketing genius from his red MAGA hats to red MAGA masks.”

Fighting to keep their jobs, some of them in states turning blue, most of these GOP senators have turned vicious or pathetic–but always lacking in respect for their opponents.  

Lindsey Graham: Once highly respected in both his state of South Carolina and in the Senate when he and the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) were a pair, Graham turned to total devotion for DDT, even losing the scraps of his reputation by pushing Amy Coney Barrett through the confirmation process in 10 days from the first day of committee hearings to the final floor vote. Once Graham completed the task as DDT’s boy, Lou Dobbs told his Fox audience not to vote for Graham in his tightly-contested race. Dobbs used DDT’s words from 2016:  

“I think Lindsey Graham is a disgrace and you have one of the worst representatives of any representative in the United States. I don’t think he could run for dog catcher in this state and win again.”

Democrats can support Dobb’s conclusion: 

“Graham … has betrayed the American people and his oath of office, he’s done absolutely nothing … except to tell everyone ‘stay tuned,’ time and time again, ‘stay tuned.’ Senator Graham needs to be tuned out in South Carolina.”

“It’s about time” for Graham to be defeated, commented a writer at the right-wing American Greatness website. They whined Graham followed DDT’s marching orders only 97 percent of the time, the highest percentage for any vulnerable senator.

Frustrated after his opponent, Jamie Harrison, brought in more donations for his campaign than he did, Graham proposed an investigation into ActBlue, a way to make small donations to Democratic candidates on the internet comparable to the less successful WinRed for Republicans. Graham cheered up when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) poured tens of millions of dollars into Graham’s campaign for his support of Barrett and the former Constitution Party senatorial candidate supported him. Some polls, however, show Harrison still two points ahead.

Answering a question about protests in a televised “conversation” with Harrison, Graham said Black and immigrants can “go anywhere” in South Carolina” if they are “conservative.” He denied any racism in his state because a Black can “go to the Senate” if they “share our values.” Both his opponent and the state’s junior senator, Tim Scott, are Black. Graham refused any debates. A Confederate state during the Civil War, South Carolina has a long history of institutionalized racism exacerbated by the Jim Crow era.

Barbara Bollier: After GOP incumbent Pat Roberts, 84-year-old congressional member for 40 years, decided not to run again for U.S. Senate, the Kansas race was open. Bollier, who changed parties to become a Democrat in the traditionally red state, didn’t appear to have a chance until GOP Roger Marshall became her opponent. He failed to answer repeated requests to participate in a debate with Bollier and then accused the moderator of a set-up by lying he hadn’t been contacted until the day before. The moderator showed the receipts for multiple certified letters she sent him and his tweet about a prior commitment for the time of the debate. Bollier pointed out the GOP Senate Leadership Fund used actors pretending to be Kansans in commercials lying about her positions on health care, guns, and taxes. She is ahead in the race by one point.

David Perdue: He has had two recent videos go viral, the first when he mocked Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) by repeatedly mispronouncing her name of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). Perdue spent four years with Harris in the Senate and should be familiar with the name of a vice presidential candidate. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said:

“This is a sitting U.S. senator who he’s mocking and who is the first woman of color on a major party ticket—that’s not all a coincidence. That’s not only planned, but it’s the result of a president who has done everything he can to otherize and rile up crowds to do the same.” 

Jayapal suffered the same abuse last summer from her opponent, Craig Keller, who not only repeatedly mispronounced her name in a candidates’ forum this past summer, even after she asked him to correct it, but also sent the Washington Post an email that repeated calling her “Jail a pal.”  

The second viral video came from the Perdue-Ossoff debate. John Ossoff (above right)called Perdue a “crook” and said Perdue might have had time to respond to COVID-19 if he hadn’t “been fending off multiple federal investigations for insider trading.” Last winter, Perdue used classified information to buy and sell stocks. Ossoff told the television audience Perdue said the virus “was no deadlier than the flu” and allowed “insurance companies to deny policies to Georgians with preexisting conditions.” He also declared Perdue was “lengthening my nose in attack ads to remind everybody that I’m Jewish, … started calling me some kind of Islamic terrorist, [and] started calling me a Chinese communist.” Perdue backed out of the last debate, and Ossoff is up by three points. 

John Cornyn: Calling his race with MJ Hegar “too close for comfort,” Cornyn tried to separate himself from DDT with a comparison of DDT to abusive husbands whose wives can’t change them after they marry. Cornyn’s sexism isn’t helping him with female voters; he also described “women as civilizers, cunningly trying to domesticate their spouses.” In an ad, Cornyn shows his opponent swearing and himself being polite, his style when taking children from their parents at the border and health insurance from cancer survivors. Cornyn is above Hegar by five points, but the vote in Texas is already above 2016.

Martha McSally: After she faithfully followed DDT, often to her detriment among Arizonans, DDT treated her like a dog at his latest campaign rally in the state. He said:

“Martha, just come up fast. Fast. Fast. Come on. Quick. You got one minute! One minute, Martha! They don’t want to hear this, Martha. Come on. Let’s go. Quick, quick, quick. Come on. Let’s go.”

McSally did get only one minute, but her opponent, Mark Kelly, said, “The president of the United States should have respect for an Arizona senator.” Polls were good for Kelly earlier, but they vary within the past few weeks. At the time of the rally, she was behind over four points, and DDT’s behavior didn’t help her.

Susan Collins: In trouble for her votes in favor of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the disastrous tax cut for the wealthy, Collins finally came through with a vote against Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court—when her vote made no difference. Earlier, information surfaced about one of her votes providing millions of dollars for a donor after he embezzled millions from funding from the COVID-19 stimulus bill. Maine voters now learned about her authoring contracting reforms to directly benefit her future husband’s lobbying and consulting firm with tens of millions of dollars. Collins is behind two points.

Joni Ernst: Like most Republican candidates, she wants to hide what she really thinks—like getting rid of Social Security. She ran attack ads about her opponent calling the police racists when Ernst used the same term for police in her last debate. DDT barely gave Ernst a mention at his Omaha rally where thousands people were left out in the cold. “Joni doesn’t know beans” trended because she failed to answer a question at the debate about the “break-even price” for soybeans. Her opponent, Theresa Greenfield, had no trouble with a similar question about a bushel of corn. The exchange is well-worth watching. Ernst has picked up a two-point lead.

(Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

Mitch McConnell: Despite the excellent campaigning by the Senate Majority Leader’s opponent, Amy McGrath, McConnell is still leading Kentucky just because he’s a Republican. He deliberately sabotaged the proposed stimulus bill behind the scenes giving each poor Kentuckian—and there are a lot—thousands of dollars from checks and unemployment and laughed at McGrath when described it a “dereliction of duty” before interrupting her.  

Photographs of McConnell’s hands and extensive bruising, multiple bandages, and yellowing around his eyes give the appearance of a serious illness. Two weeks earlier, he had no marks. The bruising around his mouth could be from intubation, placing an airway into his mouth, and the purple hands could be from blood thinners and IVs. McConnell is up nine points.

 Other vulnerable senators: Thom Tillis, down ten points (NC); Steve Daines, up one point (MT); and Cory Gardner, down nine points (CO).

A hint for early Sunday morning, turn your clocks back for the end of Daylight Savings Time 2020. Just think of Amy Coney Barrett.