This is going to be a long year for US Congressional Republicans. Since sometime in 2017, most republicans who are up for re-election in the 2018 midterm November elections have been avoiding town-hall meetings where they can have a conversation with their constituents like they would avoid the plague.
Since many have to campaign for re-election in 2018, they have no choice but to take time to connect with potential voters. They need to do this to get a full whiff of reality as to how angry the voters are, especially senators who represent all the residents in their states.
And they will have to be better prepared than the Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was at a recent town hall meeting. So far See the full list of Republicans who announced retirement this year here .This list includes my least favorite republican Representative Darrell Issa of California.
Here’s the rest of the story…
On January 15, 2018, Tommy Christopher of ShareBlue penned the following report, “Constituents laugh out loud at GOP Senator Joni Ernst’s defense of Trump”
Excerpts:
“Donald Trump was already politically toxic to his party, but his racist rant last week is making things more uncomfortable for elected Republicans who have hidden from reporters, but now have to face constituents.”
“Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) experience at her first constituent event of 2018 could be a prelude of things to come. In Red Oak, Iowa, on Sunday, Ernst was asked about Trump’s recent comments about “shithole countries.”
“At the otherwise friendly “Coffee with Joni” event, constituent Barb Melson confronted Ernst about “the damage that Trump is doing to our neighbors around the world with his white supremacy talk.”
“Ernst insisted that Trump enjoys support from other world leaders.”
“He is standing up for a lot of the countries,” Ernst told the crowd.
“Her response drew a big laugh from the crowd.
“Norway,” Ernst replied ironically.”
“Ernst isn’t up for reelection until 2020, but the GOP is facing a wipeout in the House, and they stand a very good chance of losing control of the Senate in November. If Republicans are going to brave angry constituents in this climate, they’re going to need better answers than “Norway.”
As per a 1/15/18 CNN report by Sam Petulla and Jennifer Hansler, “House Republicans are announcing they’re leaving office at a significantly faster rate than any other recent Congresses, suggesting Democrats could pick up seats in the 2018 midterm elections. On Tuesday (1/9/18) it was Pennsylvania Republican Bill Shuster, the influential chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.”
On January 10, 2018, Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times penned the following report, “Darrell Issa, a California Republican Will Not Seek Re-election to House”
Excerpts:
“Representative Darrell Issa, whose hard-edge partisan attacks on President Barack Obama began softening as his district trended toward the Democrats, said on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election — the latest and one of the most prominent Republican retirements in the face of a potential Democratic wave.”
“Mr. Issa, 64, who has represented an idyllic stretch of Southern California coast since 2001, won re-election in 2016 by just 1,600 votes out or more than 300,000 cast, while Hillary Clinton carried it by more than seven percentage points.”
“But on Wednesday 1/10/18, he called it quits.”
“Throughout my service, I worked hard and never lost sight of the people our government is supposed to serve,” Mr. Issa said Wednesday. “Yet with the support of my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election in California’s 49th District.”
“The exodus of Republicans has lifted the Democrats’ hopes of regaining the majority.”
“Mr. Issa had roughly $850,000 in his campaign coffers at the end of September, according to the most recent public filing available.”
“But his bare-knuckle partisanship had begun to wear on a district that is affluent and increasingly moderate. As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Mr. Issa routinely ripped into Mr. Obama, his aides and his cabinet, as well as their handling of a gunrunning investigation known as Fast and Furious, the Internal Revenue Service’s slow-walking of political groups’ applications for nonprofit status, the terrorist attack on an American government compound in Benghazi, Libya, and many other matters.”
“Without Mr. Issa on the ballot, Democrats boasted on Wednesday that they were well positioned to turn the seat blue.”
“After passing a devastating tax scam and fighting to rip away health care from millions of families, California Republicans clearly see the writing on the wall and realize that their party and its priorities are toxic to their re-election chances in 2018,” said Drew Godinich, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”
“Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the Republican campaign arm, predicted that a contentious Democratic primary would leave the eventual nominee “black and blue, and broke” and benefit the Republicans.”
“The founder of a successful car-alarm company, Mr. Issa became best known in Washington for turning the Oversight Committee into something like an Inquisition.”
“Since leaving the post several years ago, though, he has moved toward less contentious issues. In a bizarre turn, facing a difficult re-election in 2016, Mr. Issa came to embrace Mr. Obama — a development the then-president called “the definition of chutzpah.”
“Just last month, Mr. Issa was one of only a few Republicans who voted against the party’s tax plan.”
Mr. Issa’s announcement closely followed that of another Southern California Republican, Representative Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Democrats have plans to invest heavily in races there.”
In total, 31 Republicans are either retiring or leaving the House to seek another elected office, including several other senior Republican lawmakers. Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to win control of the House.
See entire 1/15 CNN report: There is a wave of Republicans leaving Congress –
Gronda Morin 
A fascinating report, Gronda. I hope all this pans out in November!
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Dear John Fioravanti,
The republicans had a whiff of power to where they lost their way and went to far. There is bound to be a course correction.
November can’t come soon enough for me.
Hugs,Gronda
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Gronda, it is hard to defend the indefensible – a man with a 69% “mostly false or worse” rating on his statements, a man with 103 undeniable, measured lies in ten months of office, a man who turns on someone based on the last person he speaks with, a man who 74% of global citizens have no faith in per a Pew poll and a man who openly ridicules the press, when he is the biggest purveyor of fake news in the country. Keith
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Dear Keith,
I had some compassion for the man when I thought he might have cognitive issues because of his age. But now that his doctor has given him a clean bill of health, I see him as the evil selfish man that he is.
That means his constant lying is deliberate. This can be considered as a form of gas lighting. This constant lying confuses people and makes them more vulnerable.
He keeps forgetting that he lives in the USA not Russia.
Hugs, Gronda
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Hello Gronda
In the tough world of politics if his health was an issue he shouldn’t have run, he never had any sympathy here on that score.
I know when you get into your late 60s you should not start wishing for time to go by, but hurry along November!
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