Oh for God’s sake. It’s Not About The Senators. It’s about who elected them.
You want to persuade Senators, you start with their voters. Collins is in office because Maine wants her there, and they want her there because her positions match theirs.
You want to primary her? You lose her seat. You don’t get a vote for a GOP Majority Leader from her replacement. Her replacement will vote for Schumer.
The party system is a closed club. We get to pick between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, both of which are selected from the class of people who attended the right schools, made the right conections, and rose to favor with the moneyed class.
Outsiders, even effective ones (see Daniel Wathen) are not welcome.
So you think the majority of Maine Republican voters don’t want ObamaCare repealed?
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was elected in a state (WV) Trump won by over 40 points.
No, they want her there because they think her positions match theirs.
“You want to persuade Senators, you start with their voters. Collins is in office because Maine wants her there, and they want her there because her positions match theirs.”
That’s not true in the least. Most times voters have very few choices, and it is the candidates with the big money – meaning the party connections, the politicians that can be bought, the RINOs - that are able to have the advertising to get their name out there. And most times they lie about their positions.
First of all, would Collins lose reelection because of siding with Trump on this one vote? Is Obamacare so popular in Maine that a repeal vote twould assure her defeat?
Second, unless we don’t really care about winning, putting up with this nonsense from Rinos means that we would be gambling that the political balance of power will change in Trump’s favor in the future.
It would also embolden other weak sisters and Never Trumpers to break with Trump on other issues in the future without fear of any consequences. Trump loses clout if he doesn’t use it when necessary.
I for one would take what victories can be achieved now and not gamble that things will get better for Trump someday. Too much can change to predict the future.
Also, the more Obamacare permeates our system the harder it may be to get rid of it. And this does not even consider that some of Trump’s support may disappear if people start to think he talks a good game but can’t really enact change.
It also assumes Trump and Republicans won’t be blamed for not fixing the problems with Obamacare when they had a chance to do so.
Other than Gorsuch what’s the majority given us but a ChuckU controlled senate? A liberal is a liberal. Tennessee had two flaming liberal senators and yet the state is very conservative, go figure..,