Trump’s attacks on Senate Republicans are paying political dividends

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Scapegoating the Senate GOP is proving to be an effective political strategy for President Trump. Activists and donors on the right are primed to blame congressional Republicans, not him, if there is no sweeping rewrite of the nation’s tax laws — just as they did after the failure to repeal Obamacare.

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A CBS News Nation Tracker survey published Sunday showed that majorities want more cooperation between Congress and Trump, especially the president's strongest backers and most Republicans. The most fascinating nugget from the poll: 39 percent of Republicans feel that their party’s congressional representatives “don’t like” the president and are actively trying to undermine him, while another 37 percent think congressional Republicans don’t like Trump “but pretend to” to try passing their own agenda.

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The biggest donors on the right feel the same way. About 100 of the Koch network’s top donors, including billionaire industrialist David Koch, huddled at the St. Regis hotel in midtown Manhattan last Thursday and Friday for strategy sessions and briefings from elected Republicans. The network didn’t support Trump during the 2016 campaign but has supported his agenda this year. It was striking how little criticism there was of Trump, but the anger directed toward moderate Republicans in the Senate was palpable.

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Cruz warned of cataclysmic consequences for all Republicans if “the old bulls” don’t fall in line. “Right now, we’re not gettin’ it done. I and a lot of people in this room are very frustrated by that,” he said. “We’ve got to deliver results. … If we get our act together … we could have a phenomenal election in 2018. Republicans could pick up four, five or six Senate seats. On the other hand, if we do nothing, if tax reform crashes and burns, if nothing happens on Obamacare, we could face a bloodbath. We have the potential of seeing a Watergate-level blowout. Because the left is energized and ticked off, and they’re showing up. If conservatives stay home, that is a recipe for a Speaker Pelosi and a Leader Schumer. We’ve got to give reasons to show up. …

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On Saturday, former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon declared “war” against any Republican who does not wholeheartedly support the Trump agenda. “Up on Capitol Hill, it’s the Ides of March,” Bannon said at the Voter Values Summit, referring to the Roman leader who was killed by a group of senators. (He was literally stabbed in the back.) “They’re just looking to find out who is going to be Brutus to your Julius Caesar.”

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Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday, Graham brought up Bannon’s threat even before John Dickerson asked him about it. He said Congress must get a tax bill passed. “If we don't, we're dead,” the South Carolinian said. “You're going to ask me about Bannon, so I'll just go and ask myself. … If we don't cut taxes and we don't eventually repeal and replace Obamacare, then we're going to lose across the board in the House in 2018. And all of my colleagues running in primaries in 2018 will probably get beat. It will be the end of Mitch McConnell as we know it. So this is a symptom of a greater problem. If we do cut taxes and we do repeal and replace Obamacare, it doesn't matter what Bannon does because we'll win. … If we're successful, Mitch McConnell's fine. If we're not, we're all in trouble.”

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