October 25, 2017

"The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of the Senate race is very simple, they had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt & wounded!"

Trump tweeted this morning. For more on the context: "Trump Keeps Focus on Retiring Senators, Who Had ‘Zero Chance of Being Elected’" (NYT).

40 comments:

Mark Larson said...

Trump ticking off the establishment is a great thing. Tweet away!

Michael K said...

Flake was way down in Arizona. It will be interesting to see who gets in. My Congresswoman, Martha McSally, has been mentioned.
I'm not sure she has the statewide exposure yet but I would support her without reservation.

Bay Area Guy said...

Money Quote from Sen. Flake:

"The bottom line is if I were to run a campaign that I could be proud of, and where I didn’t have to cozy up to the president and his positions or his behavior, I could not win in a Republican primary," Flake told MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." "That’s the bottom line."

Shorter Flake:

I can't win the GOP primary. Ergo, I quit.



mockturtle said...

Exactly so. Here in AZ, Flake was ready to be primaried out next year and he knew it.

buwaya said...

Putting more pressure on the remaining Republicans.
Play ball, or else, see the consequences.
A power/discipline move. Kowtow to Trump, or you too will have to go.

The interesting thing is WHY Flake and Corker did not kowtow. They knew perfectly well where their voters were - Flake says precisely that - but unlike normal politicians they did not do anything short of murder to get in front of the parade.

They had powerful incentives to knowingly defy their voters. The nature and structure of those incentives would be telling.

Curious George said...

0% chance is 100% correct.

richlb said...

Remember the headline about Jimmy Kimmel saying TRUMP behaved like a child?!

Etienne said...

It costs $21 million to become a senator in Arizona.

Cheaper than O'Reilly sex scandal, but still more than a good ranch in Texas.

mccullough said...

They will be moving their offices to K Street to continue their work. No illegal immigrants working on K Street. These guys are the actual Dreamers.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Primary McCain - with someone who can win.

Curious George said...

"Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Primary McCain - with someone who can win."

You'll have to talk to Satan about that.

mockturtle said...

Primary McCain - with someone who can win.

Unfortunately, McCain isn't up for reelection next year. :-( I think he should be unseated for mental incompetence due to his brain cancer.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Beelzebub - come on dude, McCain is ripe!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Shorter swamp creatures: the drain plug! no.

john said...

Trump is just a couple more successes away from getting the democrat senate he's always wanted.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

OT: Anniversary of narcissistic entitlement is good for laughs and laughs.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Unfortunately, McCain isn't up for reelection next year. :-( I think he should be unseated for mental incompetence due to his brain cancer.

Agreed. Recalled for unwillingness to know when to retire.

Sebastian said...

"I think he should be unseated for mental incompetence" Careful. If that is the standard . . .

traditionalguy said...

Flake and Rinos say they are forward looking. So what Clinton arranged to have 20% of our known uranium sold to Putin. We still have 80% left to sell for enough cash donations . Washinton Donation City is still open for foreign customers.

Hagar said...

Shorter Flake:
I can't win the GOP primary. Ergo, I quit.


Shorter yet:
I am in the wrong party!

john said...

I would guess McCain's office is looking for a way to get McSally appointed to fill his remaining term. Which would leave the Flake seat open to a bunch of people, including Aaaaah!.

Kevin said...

Shorter Flake:

I can't win the GOP primary. Ergo, I quit.


Even more on target: My principles are too good for my constituents.

He really looked like a deer in the headlights this morning as to why he's leaving Washington and not Trump. It was like the moment when Hillary didn't understand why she wasn't up by 50 points.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Michael K said...
Flake was way down in Arizona. It will be interesting to see who gets in. My Congresswoman, Martha McSally, has been mentioned.

Doc, I have it from my Hillary worshiping family members that it's Kyrsten Sinema's (D-MILFPorn)* for the taking and that will spell the end of Trump.


*Yes, this is Laslo bait!

Kevin said...

Flake and Rinos say they are forward looking. So what Clinton arranged to have 20% of our known uranium sold to Putin.

Flake had nothing to say about her. He and Corker think the biggest problem in Washington is Trump, not Hillary and her ilk.

They still haven't noticed the voters disagreed.

Kevin said...

Washington was broken before Trump got there.

Ergo, the problem with Washington is neither Trump nor his Tweets.

Those who spend their days focusing on Trump's 140 characters only serve to demonstrate their unfitness to solve the nation's issues.

buwaya said...

"They still haven't noticed the voters disagreed."

Of course they noticed.
That's why they aren't running.
They just disagree with the voters.
Its interesting that, in the long runup to this point, they have not bothered to try to persuade their voters. That's beside the refusal to trim their sails to suit the weather, as politicians normally do.

They or their backers have implicitly conceded the argument it seems, that persuasion is not likely to work. This may have something to do with the results of the Alabama primary.

I'm Full of Soup said...

"Doc, I have it from my Hillary worshiping family members that it's Kyrsten Sinema's (D-MILFPorn)* for the taking and that will spell the end of Trump."

Sinema is an atheist and bisexual - media will try to make her mainstream aisle-crossing non-partisan just like they did with the far left community organizer Obama.

Unknown said...

He and a host of others will want to get out while someone remembers that they were once winners. Because they are about to lose big as T. reshapes the government as Andrew Jackson did, when he ran as representaive of the people since no one else was. So Now that T. has announced his tax plan for America, where he claims it is immoral for any government to demand in taxes used for any purpose more than what an average citizen pays for living expenses, which all citizens agree with he has wrong footed all his opponents. If they refuse to come to the table to negotiate and give T. most of what he wants in any given area, Tax reform, Wall, Health, immigration, Environment, Education, Crime Reduction, defense, foreign policies, Treaties, Senate approvals of appointments and perhaps even Declarations of War and sustaining vetoes. He will cost them their place in the swamp because their local voters will see all these hidden tax increases exposed for what they are. T. knew that Tax reform would cause exactly this. Hitting Every district and state that has been cost shifting a portion of their local tax increases to make the increase less visible and painful to their voters who elected them. Because they know their local voters will only feel it a little because half or more of the increase will be passed on to someone who did not have a vote in the tax increase because of generous federal deduction of local taxes. Which are almost always a Blue and RINO district phenomena. And are part of what made them leftists, RINOs or Donorcrats, to begin with. By Threatening this deduction, he will surface every expense partially paid for by using this card trick and shell game to hide the real costs from their voters. Need more taxes to be a sanctuary city, implement AGW initiatives, even if widely supported by local voters? Ok, raise y our taxes which their constituents vote for. No pain today, but pain tomorrow when these Blue voters feel the impact the reduction in the tax deduction has on their Federal taxes paid. Which will clearly identify those politicians responsible for not negotiating a better deal with T to keep a larger fraction of that deduction. So, at the table T. will get most everything he asks for, especially since we’ve seen he’s willing to settle for two thirds of what he wants. Today and come back for more tomorrow which will make every voter think, “how reasonable” while their local politicians, left and right and RINO, run for cover since they can no longer cost shift the costs of their own boondoggles to red state voters and corporations, things like a new Stadium, Sanctuary city Programs, higher than average benefits, minimum hourly wages, and higher salaries for their employees than the average taxpayer, or education reform, or any service, utility, or revenue decreasing regulation, including , using the courts to stall a pipeline, or infrastructure beyond what exists in the average red state, like Florida, Nebraska Texas or Nevada. They can have whatever the citizens of that local area will pay for, but they will no longer be allowed to split that bill with the remainder of the nation’s taxpayers. Which means that every Blue state powerhouse, California, New York, Northern Virginia, Washington State and the like, politicians will scream for mercy and give T. whatever he wants, because it’s their political future, living in the swamp, feeding at the trough at risk. I wager T. has been waiting like a patient fisherman, knowing this time will come waiting for his opponents to take the bait and wake up. Now that they have, the establishments from both parties will lash out like cornered Rattlesnakes on Mr.T.

Unknown said...

Last page of previous:

They will attempt to Block tax reform. Say that reform is not T.’s job. Even though it was Reagan’s. Attempt to Depose T. And more. Another Jacksonian move from the “only representative of the” people in the U.S. the tag line Andrew Jackson ran for office on before he burned to the ground both Parties and their Establishments... To the dismay of his opponents who thought that parties and their establishments were written into the Constitution. We are in for many months of reshaping our government and its institutions to be more like a modern business Reducing it to less than a fixed and falling to 10% of GDP which will result in many balanced budgets and eventually zero debt. So like FDR shepherded in decades of new politics with only one World War, T. will have created the same dynamic that will last at least 100 years as the people take back their government. And the quality of life for all will soar to record heights with no end in sight and not just in the U.S. but everywhere. Make Money not War will suffocate most national impulses to seize countries or resources by force, a lose-lose proposition, or enslave their people. it would Be wonderful to see some enterprising reporter and their staff sort the tax shifting district by district, politician by state by state, major metropolitan area the percentage of taxes shifted to others. And assign responsibility for the tax increased to a politician, special interests, like SJWs, Corporations, Countries' grievance groups, etc. Then chart what happens to their politicians’ election by election and that districts’ local expenditures and benefits far beyond the average. Along with regulations that constrain property rights and a free market, and unbridled capitalism and freedom. By a free people and their enterprise.

Bob Loblaw said...

True in Flake's case, but not true in Corker's. Corker would probably have won if he ran for reelection.

Flake looks like he's trying to line up a job at MSNBC or CNN. The reality is he ran his last campaign as one kind of Senator and voted as another, so it's entirely reasonable for his constituency to decide he's not fit to return to Washington.

Yancey Ward said...

I live in TN, Bob Loblaw is correct- Corker would have won reelection fairly handily. Flake was in much worse condition, however, and was a likely loser even if he managed to survive the primary which looked increasingly unlikely, too.

tim in vermont said...

Sinema is an atheist and bisexual - media will try to make her mainstream aisle-crossing non-partisan

Well, she has the temperament for it!

Chuck said...

Previously, Trump tweeted that Bob Corker was simply angry at Trump for not endorsing him, as if Corker had asked for the endorsement and Trump had denied him. Corker denies it. Some might say that it is hard to gauge the truth between Corker and Trump (I wouldn't but some might), but of course Trump also claims (again on Twitter) that Corker handed Obama the Iran deal. And that isn't true:

http://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/trump-misleads-corker/

JackWayne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JackWayne said...

Jack Wayne said...
LLR moby, you are so full of shit your eyes are brown. Corker absolutely gave the Iran Deal to Obama with a kiss and a blow job.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

He ain't wrong.

cubanbob said...

@ George Spix... who is that guy you are talking about because it isn't the guy I voted for who currently is in the White House. I like your guy better.

Birkel said...

So Chuck is now taking FactCheck.org at its word?

LLR has a hard time keeping the mask down.

David said...

Whether they thought they were going to lose is irrelevant. Here are two guys supposedly very concerned about the future of the country who quit positions of considerable influence and power. I'm watching what they do not what they say and what they did was shrink from a challenge.

JAORE said...

Last week: Flake is a Republican so he must be a racist NAZI!!!!!
Couple of days ago: Flake blasts Trump. He's a HERO!
Yesterday: Flake says Trump has done nothing to be impeached. He's a SELL OUT COWARD!