It is ridiculously easy to mock the GOP Senate caucus for its fecklessness in 2019. This was on display over the weekend. Bloomberg's Mark Niquette wrote a story headlined "GOP Senators Exhale After Considering Crossing Trump on Tariffs," which is about as 2019 as one can get. The story itself quotes lots of GOP senators praising President Trump for not imposing tariffs on Mexico and reaching a deal that, by reputable media accounts, contained no new concessions from that country. Niquette correctly observes that "crossing the president, whose popularity with Republican voters is very high, carries a definite risk for the party's lawmakers, including facing primary challengers more aligned with Trump the next time they're up for reelection.
Daniel W. Drezner: A very modest defense of the GOP Senate caucus
