If you wondered about Democratic strategy…
… this goes a long way to explain why Pelosi and Schumer are giving McConnell heartburn and making Trump twist in the wind:
A growing number of Republicans are privately warning of increasing fears of a total wipeout in 2020: House, Senate, and White House.
All of this is unfolding while the economy still looks strong, and before public impeachment proceedings have officially begun.
House Republicans in swing districts are retiring at a very fast pace, especially in the suburbs of Texas and elsewhere. (Republicans talk grimly of the “Texodus.”) Rep. Greg Walden — the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the only Republican in Oregon’s congressional delegation — yesterday shocked the party by becoming the 19th GOP House member to not seek re-election.
[…]
Scott Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior political strategist, tells me that third-quarter fundraising reports showing three Republican senators being out-raised by Democratic challengers (in Arizona, Iowa and Maine) “are a three-alarm fire.”
“The party was shaken by that,” Reed said. “We’re all worried.”[…]Republican strategists and campaign staffers said that with the polarization of the Trump era, key House and Senate races will depend even more than usual on the presidential race.Senate races look so tight that control could be decided by a January 2021 runoff in Georgia.
I think the impeachment has always been about the Senate as much as it is about Trump. Putting those swing state GOPers on the hot seat is important going into the election. The Democrats have them in a terrible squeeze.
It is as important to get rid of McConnell, the “gravedigger of democracy”, as it is to get rid of Trump. Nothing good can ever happen as long as he is in control of the Senate. It would be nice to defeat him at the ballot box but that’s a tall order. Taking away his majority is doable.
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