And as vulnerable Senate Republicans cast themselves as a firewall against the left’s ambitions — killing the filibuster, targeting the high court and making D.C. a state — Trump is attacking Stahl, Anthony Fauci and Hunter Biden. Rather than talking up Barrett nonstop, he’s celebrating the support of 50 cent, a rapper who peaked 15 years ago and dislikes Joe Biden’s tax policies.
While those issues may animate Trump and his base, it’s certainly not what Republicans in battleground states are talking about.
“There’s just not any discipline. I mean the president’s got a great record to run on. But we don’t hear too much about it. And I just think that’s a mistake,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is the rare Republican running significantly ahead of Trump. “And Biden is happy to sit in his basement… and just let the president do his thing.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Republican whip, said “some of the tangents sometimes that candidates get off on are not necessarily the things that I think move voters.”
