GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “An ebullient Lindsey Graham hopped off the stump here after revving up a room full of conservative voters, reliving his furious defense of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearings and making clear he was on President Donald Trump’s side. After streams of voters lined up to take selfies with Graham last week, the detractor-turned-Trump-defender was asked: Is there any room for a Trump critic in today’s Republican Party?…Heading into his first midterm election as President, Trump has effectively silenced once-vocal GOP critics inside the Republican Party — including Graham from just months ago — a sign of the rapid makeover of the party underway since Trump took office in 2017. He commands near loyalty from his base — with a whopping 9-out-of-10 GOP voters approving of his performance in office, according to a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll. GOP voters have little patience for sharp critics like Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, whom just 22% of national Republican voters view favorably in a recent CNN poll and admittedly had to quit for fear of losing a primary in Arizona.”
–Manu Raju and Elizabeth Landers, “How Lindsey Graham shifted from Trump detractor to defender,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 30, 2018 5:30 pm