How Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, and John McCain can put Donald Trump out of business tomorrow
Republican Senators Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, and John McCain have all strongly condemned Donald Trump this week, making clear that they don’t think he’s fit to be President of the United States. Skeptics have said that these words are unlikely to lead to any real action, as these are the three Republicans who don’t have to worry about running for reelection, while the other 49 GOP Senators do. But the three of them could actually put Trump out of business tomorrow without any additional help from their own party.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell clearly despises Donald Trump, but he’s also been one of Trump’s biggest apologists. McConnell took millions of dollars from a pro-Kremlin oligarch in 2016, and his wife Elaine Chao is in Trump’s cabinet, so there are plenty of theories to go around as to why McConnell has been protecting Trump even as some in the party want to run away from him. Getting McConnell out of the Senate Majority Leader position would be key to getting Trump out of the White House. So where do the Three Amigos come in?
If Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, and John McCain were to become Independents tomorrow, and announce that they’re going to caucus with the Democrats for the remainder of the session, that would give the the Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Mitch McConnell would instantly no longer be Senate Majority Leader. That role would fall to Chuck Schumer, the leading Senate Democrat. McConnell would become Minority Leader, and he’d still have a leadership role in the Senate – but he’d be in far less of a position to protect Trump.
This is not to say that Flake, Corker, and McCain are even considering such a thing. But they could pass it off as merely being a way to prevent Donald Trump from taking over the Republican Party, and they could say that it’s nothing personal toward McConnell. If you want to try to pressure Flake, Corker, and McCain into turning their words into action, pressure them to consider going the Independent route.
