Republicans are thrilled to lose

Abandon Trump? The GOP is ready and willing to be out of power.

President Trump and Mitch McConnell.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

A great deal has been written (including by me) about the curious fact that despite impeachment, lockdowns, and double-digit unemployment figures, Donald Trump's position is remarkably similar to the one in which he found himself just before the last presidential election.

One important sense in which this is true is the attitude of other Republican politicians. After the release of the infamous Access Hollywood footage at the beginning of October in 2016, Trump was all but abandoned by Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and other Republican leaders. Many prominent figures in the party went so far as to rescind their endorsements, including the late John McCain and Mike Lee. (Others, such as Mitt Romney, who recently announced that he did not vote for his party's sitting president this year, had never endorsed him in the first place.)

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.