Trump sees dangerous cracks in Hill GOP support

A series of recent events is alienating congressional allies Trump would need in an impeachment fight.

By ELIANA JOHNSON and BURGESS EVERETT 12/21/2018 07:14 PM EST Updated 12/21/2018 10:50 PM EST

President Donald Trump faces a dangerous erosion of support among rank-and-file Republicans thanks to a series of jarring recent moves that have alienated even some close GOP allies.

From his defense of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince over the murder of a dissident journalist to his abrupt decision to pull American troops out of Syria to his demand for a government shutdown, Trump has been angering friendly lawmakers, leading some who typically kept their disagreements to themselves to speak up.

The trend could prove perilous for the president after Democrats assume control of the House in January. Should the House vote to impeach Trump, he will have to rely on an increasingly exasperated Senate GOP conference to prevent him from being thrown out of office.

Trump has always focused on pleasing his political base, governing with an eye more toward unifying Republicans rather than the country as a whole. For much of his presidency, the strategy worked: Both his core supporters and Republicans in general supported his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, ditching the Iran nuclear deal, and confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, to howls of protest from Democrats.

More recently, however, cracks are showing between Trump’s base and GOP officials, who are rattled by his Syria exit and the ensuing resignation of his Defense secretary, Jim Mattis.

“Going to the base of the base means that Republican senators are going to start disagreeing with you, because that’s not their party," said Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon.

One Republican senator said his colleagues feel like they’ve been increasingly hijacked by Trump. The senator described the president as increasingly intent on pleasing the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and media allies like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. Some Republicans find the juxtaposition between what they consider a reckless foreign policy and a reckless border wall fight to be infuriating.

“Syria is crumbling. And we’re talking about a fucking wall,” this senator said.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/21/trump-republicans-congress-support-1074186