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Republicans Secretly Knife Trump as Election Disaster Looms

Fingers are already pointing, albeit under the table.

Republicans are already quietly blaming Donald Trump ahead of the midterms, according to a new report.

America goes to the polls on Tuesday, and much of the discussion has centered on a blue wave that could wipe out one or both of the GOP’s congressional majorities.

Yet despite several lawmakers putting daylight between themselves and the president on policy, 80, few have gone so far as to publicly attack him. Behind closed doors, however, it appears to be different.

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Politico spoke with about 12 lawmakers, candidates, and campaign officials, who said that out of the public eye, folks are laying the blame for what could be a slaughter at his door.

“There was a point earlier this year where we really felt like we could defy history,” said an unnamed lawmaker. “And then Trump bombed Iran. And it was just one thing after another.”

Even deep red seats have become battlegrounds in the months leading up to Tuesday’s vote. Trump has acknowledged it too, touring parts of the country that once seemed surefire Republican strongholds.

“At least when Barack Obama was president, he only screwed his enemies, never his friends,” one House Republican said.

“I’m not sure what the Republican Party looks like in six months,” one Republican strategist involved in close races nationwide said. “Look, a lot of Republicans have held their tongues. A lot of Republicans who have real problems with the way things have gone the last two years have been good soldiers.

“But what happens if we lose 35 House seats and six Senate seats?”

They added: “We all know who the problem is. It’s Trump. And do we continue down a path of losing?”

“The promise of the great Trump economy has not materialized,” said former GOP chair of Georgia’s Cobb County, Jason Shepherd.

Asymmetrical impacts from Trump policies are being felt nationwide. “Trump won Miami, and yet he went to the place that gave him the biggest support, and kind of just f---ed everybody over if we’re being honest,” a Florida-based Republican operative told the news site.

Some, however, were softer on the president.

“I think Jon Husted’s a-- and Nicki Minaj’s is a great closing message,” a sarcastic T.W. Arrighi, a Republican strategist working on the South Carolina Senate, among other races, told Politico’s The Conversation.

“You’ve got to take the good with the bad with Trump, unless you want to drive yourself crazy every day.”

He added: “People are gonna go after the president. The buck stops with him. His approval ratings aren’t great.”

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The White House defended the president. Trump “is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress,” spokesman Davis Ingle told Politico.

An unnamed White House staffer, meanwhile, said blaming Trump was “an asinine adventure” and that the president “has obviously left it all on the field.”

“Republicans have always been aware of the historical midterm precedent, and that’s why we’re barnstorming the country to tout the president’s achievements on cutting taxes, securing the border, and lowering drug costs,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre told Politico.

“Any anonymous strategist who says the president is not helpful in turning out Republican voters has no idea what they’re talking about, and their candidates should request a refund for their shoddy consulting services.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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Harry ThompsonNews Reporter

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