The slew of Senate Republican retirements prove who's in charge of the GOP now (CNN squeals!)

msn.com ^ | 3/8/21 | Chris Cilizza

[cotton1706]

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt's surprise retirement announcement Monday adds his name to a growing list of GOP establishment politicians who no longer recognize the party they represent and have decided to walk away rather than face the peril of losing their career at the hands of a Donald Trump-inspired base that views them a insufficiently loyal to the cause.

To date, five Republicans senators -- Blunt, Richard Shelby (Alabama), Richard Burr (North Carolina), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) and Rob Portman (Ohio) -- have all announced that they will not seek another term next November. It's not a coincidence that all five are considered remnants of the Republican Party of George W. Bush and have struggled to adjust to the new Trump-led GOP.

"The rash of GOP retirements, likely to avoid Trump madness in the primaries, shows you Trump still isn't done destroying the party," tweeted conservative commentator (and CNN contributor) Amanda Carpenter after Blunt's retirement announcement. "Onwards we go."

The trend is hard to dispute.

Blunt, prior to Monday morning, was not seen as someone even considering not running again. He had spent a lifetime in politics -- including a stint in House leadership -- and is a close ally of Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky). And with the Republican trend in Missouri, Blunt's path in a general election in 2020 is probably clearer than in either of his past two Senate bids.

But Blunt isn't a Trumper. In the wake of the January 6 US Capitol riot, Blunt said that Trump had been "clearly reckless" although he insisted, wrongly in retrospect, that "the President touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again."

[DoughtyOne]

d":^)

[A strike]

‘k,
I can certainly read it that way; however my point to all is that we probably should not expect an honest election again in our lifetimes as decreed by Chief treason Justice John Roberts, and definitely not ‘22, ‘24 ...

[unread]

"establishment politicians who no longer recognize the party they represent and have decided to walk away rather than face the peril of losing their career at the hands of a Donald Trump-inspired base that views them a insufficiently loyal to the cause."

Watch that door on your way out..!

[Magnatron]

[DoughtyOne]

I would agree with that, but the topic at hand was how some of
us are expecting a significant improvement in the presence of
Conservatives in Congress.

I was not addressing the fairness of elections as a component of
that assessment. If I were, I’d have judged our chances of
improvement to be even less likely.

Until the Left is acknowledged to be criminally invalidating elections
things will get worse.

There is an interesting theory about children who act out. They
will sometimes act out to get attention, if they don’t think
they are getting enough.

In a way, I see the Democrat Party in that sense. It will act
out until it is confronted. It will take advantage until it no
longer can.

[A strike]

“It will take advantage until it no longer can.”

Which, again, will probably not be in our lifetime.
These are, after all Bolsheviki.

[DoughtyOne]

True...