SORE LOSER

Republican Loser Takes Bitter Swipe at Her Own Voters

“They want angry rhetoric,” complained defeated Maine Senator Susan Collins.

Susan Collins has lashed out at Republican voters after losing her Maine Senate seat in the Democratic midterm landslide.

In an interview with The New York Times, Collins, 73, complained about voter perceptions that she hadn’t done enough to stand up to President Donald Trump, whose rising unpopularity led many long-time Republican voters to abandon the party.

“I was caught up in the Trump tsunami that swept away many incumbent Republican senators who have served their states well for many years and really care about our country,” Collins said.

Collins was one of seven Republican senators who broke with GOP colleagues to vote to convict Trump after he was impeached following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but said it had little impact on voters Tuesday.

“Everybody ignores the fact that I voted to convict him in the second impeachment trial,” Collins said. “What bigger break could there be? It is never enough. I want results, and they want angry rhetoric.”

Collins lost the seat she held for three decades to Democrat Troy Jackson in one of the major upsets of Tuesday’s midterms. She was first elected in 1996 and is serving her fifth term.

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The campaign was close-fought and acrimonious, with Jackson telling Collins to “shut up” during the candidates’ debate in October. Jackson sought to tie Collins to Trump’s increasingly unpopular policies, and both candidates threw corruption allegations and personal attacks at each other.

Collins did not make a concession speech after her defeat and announced the result in an email to supporters after calling Jackson to congratulate him, according to reports.

She had long trod a fine line between maintaining an independent agenda from Trump and not attracting the president’s ire, with the 80-year-old having a long record of pursuing vendettas against those in his own party who oppose him.

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But ultimately, the unpopularity of Trump’s second-term policies was too much for Collins to overcome, with even longstanding Republican voters abandoning the party in droves.

Speaking to the Times, Collins recalled a conversation with a long-time supporter who told her she “loved her” but felt she could not vote for her this time.

“She said it was the only way she could send a message to Trump,” said Collins.

The Times reporter who interviews Collins, Carl Hulse, 72, has long provided her with an uncritical platform. He too In the course of his latest report, he wrote, “In rejecting Ms. Collins, Maine voters gave up a tremendous amount of influence over federal spending by turning out the woman at the helm of the influential committee that controls federal spending.”

In June, he had interviewed her and cast her as a dedicated senator, while in 2022 he portrayed her as the heroine of efforts to reform the presidential certification process in the wake of Jan. 6.

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Tom PorterBreaking News Reporter

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