,
9 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
I don't know that this is going to go anywhere, but I do wonder if some of the GOP aren't looking at Trump's grandiose pronouncements as a welcome off-ramp.
There's a perception that the GOP establishment backs Trump no matter what because judges and because his policies are their policies. This is true, but just like everything else, it's true up to a point.
It's not really "no matter what", it's just that the more they back him, the more stuck backing him they get, unless or until they hit a breaking point that changes the cost/benefit analysis (real and perceived).
So if you're worried about the impeachment inquiry... not so much that it exists but that more stuff keeps coming out and he keeps doing more stuff in response to it, so you're worried that your initial support will look worse the longer you stay in...
...but the longer you stay in, the harder it is to pivot without making it *really* obvious that you never believed in your position, for instance, then having a completely unrelated reason to break with him might seem a welcome relief.
It's not just these two things, it's everything: Trump's apparent degeneration and lack of stability, his historic unpopularity, the uncouthness that they've never liked about him, the feeling that he's responsible when their switchboards light up with complaints, etc.
So here's what I would tell you to look for, on the not Trump side: if these people who seem to be finding their spines (or shells, as the case may be) at long last wind up speaking against Trump on other things where they've backed him or avoided crossing him, stuff's happening.
And on the Trump side? Watch for him to castigate people like McConnell and Graham in the same ways he does his Democratic foes... and then see how they respond. If they fall back in line, it was just a flight of fancy.
There is a chance, though, a real but small chance that this is the opening needed for the pre-2020 GOP/Trump split that some have been predicting for months (and that I have been downplaying.)
