By all accounts, Trump’s meeting on Capitol Hill with Senate Republicans was a total disaster. The meeting was supposed to be about mending fences and easing tensions, but Trump showed up and proceeded to rant about all of his grievances.
Some Republicans have believed for at least the last month or so that the president is trying to lose the Senate for his party. It is a growing concern among Republicans that Trump is trying to sink his own party.
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The idea is crazy because common sense dictates that a Democratic victory in November will make Trump a lame duck and his presidency will be virtually over, but for a president who is desperate not to let go of the spotlight, could it be that he is so desperate to be the only Republican game in town that he would be happy to see the House and Senate majorities gone?
If Republicans lose the House and Senate, Trump will be his party’s center of attention. It is the attention that he has craved for decades and is refusing to let go of ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections.
Trump apparently is willing to go so far that he would threaten his own party with election defeat if they do not do what he wants.
David Sivak of The Washington Examiner posted on X:
– First off, Trump dominated the meeting, and I’m told GOP senators were barely able to get a word in edge-wise (Thune didn’t speak)
– There was the fight with Cassidy, with one source telling me the two men yelled at each other to “sit down”
– Trump also fumed over his two impeachments, and much of the meeting was an airing of “grievances”
– Trump brought up the Republicans who voted to convict him, his “perfect” call with Volodymyr Zelensky, and the “87 indictments” against him
– The SAVE Act did come up, but only at the beginning when Rick Scott opened the meeting and at the end, when Trump delivered a “parting message”
– On SAVE, Trump warned that voters wouldn’t show up if the bill doesn’t pass
Trump knows that Republican voters won’t show up because he will do everything in his power to make sure that they don’t show up. Trump has discouraged Republicans from voting by mail in the past, and it would be in character for him to discourage Republicans from voting in the midterm election.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that what Trump wants goes deeper than the SAVE America Act, “If you don’t have the votes, sir, you don’t have the votes. It causes me to wonder if we were to pass the Save Act tomorrow, if he wouldn’t find yet another reason for what I think he really is seeking, which is for us to blow up the filibuster, and I’m certainly not giving my consent to that.”
Trump wants Republicans to give him control of the Senate by nuking the filibuster. Because Senate Republicans refuse to give up their power, Trump is threatening to tank the midterm election.
All of this is music to the ears of Democrats, as their path to control of Congress is paved by Trump-fueled chaos.
What do you think? Is Trump trying to tank the midterm election? Share your ideas in the comments below.
