ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “U.S. Representative Mark Sanford is the latest Republican to learn a tough lesson – challenging President Donald Trump can be political suicide. The South Carolina Republican congressman’s upset loss on Tuesday [6-12-18] to a primary opponent who questioned his commitment to Trump, along with a recent setback for Trump critic Martha Roby in Alabama and the Senate nomination of a controversial anti-establishment Trump supporter in Virginia, reinforced the degree to which loyalty to Trump has become a party litmus test. While fealty to the Republican president may be a requirement to win low-turnout Republican primaries dominated by conservative activists, it could prove a tougher sell against energized anti-Trump Democratic forces in midterm elections this fall…Democrats need to pick up 23 seats in the House and two seats in the Senate in the Nov. 6 elections to regain control of those chambers, allowing them to block Trump’s agenda and possibly launch investigations or even impeachment of the president. While Trump is popular with Republicans, opinion polls show his general approval hovering in the low 40s percent overall. Many key political battles of the midterms will be fought in swing House districts and big battleground states where loyalty to Trump is not necessarily a badge of honor.”
-John Whitesides, “‘It’s Trump’s party now’ and U.S. Republicans could pay in November,” Reuters, June 13, 2018 3:12 pm