Former McCain Advisor Steve Schmidt: Republicans’ Senate Majority Is “Going Down with the SS Trump”

Steve Schmidt believes Republicans will lose control of the Senate if they continue to be Donald Trump’s “foot soldiers.” The former GOP strategist offered a grim assessment for the party.

Schmidt was a senior advisor to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. He’s become a strong critic of President Trump and told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle that Republicans are in trouble.

“What we saw here over the last couple of days is these retired four-star officers speaking out and engaging in politics which they are loathed to do,” Schmidt said.

“But they’re not saying we don’t like Donald Trump’s tax plan or we don’t like Donald Trump’s approach to health care.”

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“What these men who have spent their entire careers, their entire lifetimes in service to the nation as sentinels of the nation’s liberty and freedom, what they’ve said is Donald Trump is a unique threat to Americanism.”

Ruhle pointed to GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney. Both have publicly stepped way from Trump in the past few days.

“Romney and Murkowski are going to come out looking fine when history’s lens judges this rancid era,” Schmidt said.

“When you look at the Senate races right now, Cory Gardner in Colorado, that race is effectively over. The Democrat will win,” he said.

“When you look at Martha McSally in Arizona, that race is effectively over. The Democrat will win.”

“When you look at the Senate races all over the country, you see Republican candidates in very, very big trouble and Mitch McConnell’s grasp on the senate majority becoming tenuous.”

Schmidt had a simple explanation for why Republicans are at risk of losing the Senate.

“They signed up to become foot soldiers in a cult of personality for Donald Trump,” he said.

“They’re going down with the SS Trump if that’s what happens in November. And as we look out on that ship on the high seas, the SS Trump proverbial is foundering.”

“It’s had a difficult month with these protests, with the total ineptitude and response to Coronavirus, and the American people are looking at this man, this man who has not met history’s task in a way that is greater than any previous American leader in all of our long history.”

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Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media