Yet another of Donald Trump’s House Republican allies bites the dust

| 12:37 pm EDT August 26, 2019
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Last month we saw a remarkable pattern emerge: one House Republican after another abruptly announced their retirement, choosing to simply go home in 2020 instead of running for re-election. The pattern was clear enough. Donald Trump is so toxically unpopular, he’s likely to drag the GOP down with him on the 2020 ballot. Now, yet another House Republican is running for the hills – and this time he’s doing it all but immediately.

Republican Congressman Sean Duffy announced today that he’s resigning as of September, which means he’s just days away from heading for the door. He says he wants to spend more time with his family, which is what politicians always say when they’re resigning. In this instance it might actually be true for once, as Duffy’s wife is pregnant and is apparently having complications.

We wish them well on the birth of their child. But the political reality here is that this puts Trump and the GOP in an even worse position for 2020. Duffy probably would have won re-election. But he’s in the kind of swing district that sometimes goes Democratic in presidential elections, meaning that his seat may now be up for grabs.

Even as House Republicans continue to bail on 2020 because of Donald Trump’s sinking ship, Duffy is bailing for reasons that may have nothing to do with Trump, but could cause Trump’s ship to sink even faster.