Midterm pressures are liberating centrist Republicans to start criticizing President Trump.
One day after Michael Cohen’s guilty plea and Paul Manafort’s convictions, the New York Times reported that “Senior Republican Party leaders began urging their most imperiled incumbents on Wednesday to speak out about the wrongdoing surrounding President Trump.”
One of those “imperiled incumbents,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., referred to recent Trump-related events as a “sad chapter in our country’s politics” and said the president is making a “major mistake” by attacking the special counsel on a personal level.
Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., said on Wednesday that “the facts of the last 24 hours give rise to some concern. When people around you are starting to get themselves convicted, that’s obviously a point of concern.” Katko also emphasized his support for the special counsel investigation, arguing it’s “not a witch hunt,” despite the president’s characterization.
Nobody wants to be on the bad side of their party’s president, and Trump’s special willingness to lash out at fellow Republicans — and his popularity with GOP voters — has worked to maintain outward unity. But incumbents like Curbelo, running in districts Trump lost, need to appeal beyond the Trump-friendly Republican base. And if party leaders are “urging” them to distance themselves from the president to save their re-election bids, it’s possible Trump will spare them any Twitter shoutouts.
Possible, but not guaranteed.
Given the party’s wariness of crossing Trump and his base, this is also probably a strong indication of how seriously Republicans are beginning to worry about losing control of the House in November.
Meanwhile, even Democrats in Trump friendly states like West Virginia and North Dakota are bending over backwards not to criticize the president.
