Susan Collins is in trouble

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Republican Senator Susan Collins cannot be trusted to do the right thing for its own sake, when her wealthy donors want her to do the wrong thing. We learned that when, after she heroically helped save ObamaCare, she then villainously rubber stamped a tax scam for the wealthy, knowing it would ruin the lives of many of her low income constituents in Maine. Now that Collins is set to be one of the swing votes in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, the public has figured out a better way of trying to motivate her: by premptively destroying her career.

Senate Democrats spent the committee hearings exposing Brett Kavanaugh as a liar and underhanded con artist who is also an extremist when it comes to women’s rights. Part of the goal was to set up Kavanaugh for felony perjury charges. Another part of the goal was to make Kavanaugh such a pariah that certain GOP Senators like Susan Collins won’t be able to vote for him without ending their own careers. Maine is a moderate state that largely has no tolerance for Kavanaugh’s positions that abortion and birth control are unconstitutional. More importantly, people are willing to put serious money into destroying Collins if necessary. How serious?

Two Maine-based political fundraising groups have quickly raised more than a million dollars earmarked for anyone willing and able to defeat Susan Collins in her 2020 reelection bid, according to the Daily Beast. If Collins votes for Kavanaugh, the money will go to her eventual Democratic opponent.

That’s almost half as much money as Susan Collins’ 2014 Democratic opponent raised during the entire election cycle. And if people are willing to give a million dollars to defeat Collins, in just a few days, on the chance that she might vote for Kavanaugh, it suggests that tens of millions of dollars could be raised in the name of her destruction if she actually does vote “yes.” Does Collins want to risk losing her wealthy conservative donors, or does she want to run against one of the most well-funded Democratic Senate candidates of all time? Either way, she’s in trouble.