Trump purges enemies and reshapes party in his image

[mystery-ak]

 Trump purges enemies and reshapes party in his image

The president wins short-term victories with the retirements of Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, but the cost to the GOP agenda could be steep.

By ALEX ISENSTADT

10/24/2017 10:35 PM EDT

Updated 10/25/2017 12:07 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is squeezing out his enemies in the Republican Party — diminishing the power of the GOP establishment and reshaping his party in his own image.

With the looming exits of Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, Trump will rid himself of his two most outspoken Republican detractors. What happens before they depart in 2019 — Flake and Corker demonstrated Tuesday they are fully emboldened now to take on the president without fear of consequences — could determine the success or failure of the GOP-controlled Congress through the 2018 midterms.

But in the short term, there is no question: Trump, and his former strategist and now-Breitbart chief Steve Bannon, are winning.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/24/trump-republicans-corker-flake-purge-244139

[Fantom]

Seems the voters Flake and Corkie have betrayed are the ones purging them.

[endicom]

Seems the voters Flake and Corkie have betrayed are the ones purging them.

Any Trump effect here should be indirect. People see that things can be different and that whets their appetite for some change.

[Concerned]

It'll be interested to see if the Republican Congressional majority is greater or smaller in 2018.  With all Trump's tweets, attacks on the party he's supposed to be leading, name calling, fights with Gold Star families, and lack of legislative achievements, I ask myself: is he increasing the 46% of the electorate he got in 2016 or is he decreasing it?