Just after last fall’s midterm elections, congressional Republicans fumed at their historic underperformance and seemed ready to dump Trump.
“Former President Trump is facing waves of blame after key Republican candidates lost in midterms,” Axios’ Mike Allen led his influential daily newsletter. “The list of explanations for GOP underperformance is long, but at the top is DONALD TRUMP,” Politico Playbook declared. A Trump adviser told ABC News, “This is a sinking ship.”
A few months after they designated the former president their greatest political liability, one might expect Republicans to take this week’s news of his pending criminal indictment as the offramp they yearned for.