Republican leader abruptly quits

| 9:53 pm EST February 12, 2018
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Donald Trump’s toxic unpopularity and array of criminal scandals are continuing to do a number on the Republican Party. We’ve already seen an unprecedented number of Republicans in Congress announce that they won’t seek reelection in November, ostensibly because they know they can’t win. Now a rising leader within the Republican Party is abruptly quitting – and he’s lashing out at Trump on his way out.

Brandon DeFrain, the Chairman of the Bay County Republican Party in Michigan, isn’t exactly a household name. But political insiders were expecting him to soon become one, as he’s become a leader and a rising star within the GOP. Now out of nowhere, and without warning, DeFrain has resigned. Under normal circumstances, this would typically signal that he was trying to fend off a scandal of his own. But in the toxic Trump era, the explanation turns out to instead be all about Trump.

DeFrain explained his resignation in this way: “I can no longer remain silent about our President. I have not seen a leader, I’ve only seen more of the same. I’m tired of attempting to defend a machine that does not defend the people I love.” (link). We want to give him credit for doing the right thing, but of course the Trump of 2018 is the same piece of crap that he was during the campaign, meaning DeFrain had no right to defend Trump back then either.

This may simply be a sign that, as a Chairman of the Republican Party, he’s concluded that he can’t get anyone from his own party elected in November because of Trump. In any case it’s just the latest sign that the GOP is in disarray, and that if the Resistance does its job throughout 2018, the Democrats are in position to dominate in the November elections.