Op-Ed: After a bad showing in the midterms, what story are Republicans telling themselves now?
[By Joe Scarborough | On Tuesday, October 19, 2018]
The midterms, or whatever you want to call them, were a complete disaster for the Republican Party. They finished last, losing by 17 seats, which is the smallest margin since Reagan lost in the 80’s.
The big story today is that Republicans are now telling themselves that they are still viable and the party must somehow come together to stop President Trump. But there is no reason to expect that to happen. A recent poll shows that only 36 percent of self-identified Republicans actually want to defeat Trump, while 51 percent want to make him president forever if not for his “constant and ever-changing rhetoric.”
I have been watching Trump for the last three months and, by all indications, he will be going on to his second term. The GOP will have to do a lot more than just run on him for victory in 2020. Even if they do, they will be under such a microscope that they will look like fools. And if the Democrats have any kind of hope of gaining, they will have to do something that is even more extreme and far-reaching like electing a socialist as their nominee who will actually deliver the country into the hands of leftwing control, which is the ultimate disaster for anyone who has any shred of conscience or humanity.
So what story are Republicans telling themselves now? First, of course, they are not telling themselves a story. They are telling themselves that it is too late now to change their positions and become more conservative.
[On Tuesday, October 19, 2018]
Joe Scarborough
What the polls are showing, the reality is that Republicans in the midterms are either still stuck in Trump mode or they have made the mistake of thinking Trump is the one thing that will get them elected, when in fact if they do win some seats in Congress there will be a lot of other things they have to do.
First — in some states Republicans did actually do well. And what a state it was. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire went to Republicans. But now