As the 2020 election approaches, Republicans are beginning to realize just how important it is to have a leader at the top of the ticket who knows how to manage a crisis.
Writing for the Washington Post on Monday, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin patted Republicans on the head for finally waking up.
"It sure took them long enough," wrote Rubin, noting that it's been clear to the rest of the world for the past several months that President Donald Trump's leadership is woefully inadequate.
"For months, it has been clear that the Senate majority is slipping from Republicans’ control, but they appeared to be in denial that an unpopular president who failed to address a pandemic and presided over an economy akin to the Great Depression might ruin their reelection chance. Who knew?" Rubin wrote, sarcastically.
As GOP members are beginning to look toward their own reelection, the president's coattails don't seem to have the strength they did in 2016.
“Democrats have benefited from two key developments," the Washington Post cited the Cook Political Report's Jessica Taylor. "The emergence of Biden, not Bernie Sanders, as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and emerging evidence that the public does not believe Trump is managing the pandemic effectively.”
Rubin suggested that there may be a third option: Republicans who only follow Trump even when it makes no sense, politically or otherwise.
Given the midterm elections, one would assume that Republicans could learn from their losses. But "Republicans are remarkably unwilling to engage in some honest reflection," said Rubin. She cited Senate Republican whip John Cornyn as the perfect example. Twice, Cornyn has run the GOP's Senate campaign arm.
“I think the one issue in this campaign — this particular election — is going to be how did we respond to this crisis? I think all other considerations are going to be secondary,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). “If you’re an incumbent, you can demonstrate how you would react to the crisis by actually doing it.”
"Hmm. He and his fellow Republicans might try dropping their opposition to additional funding for state and local governments, without which thousands of firefighters, police officers, EMTs, teachers, public hospital workers and other state and local employees will face layoffs. Breaking with Trump to keep all those people working would be very popular, evidence that they can 'react to the crisis,'” said Rubin.
At the same time, voting by mail is a popular solution to those who are concerned about packing the polls to vote in November if there's no vaccine. Many states are already moving to a complete vote by mail system. Trump recently said the quiet part out loud when he admitted that the more people who vote, the fewer Republicans win.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is already preparing for the battle to allow access to voting for people who are scared to come to the polls. She noted recently that Wisconsin Republicans opposed extending the mail-in ballot deadline, barring many votes from being cast, simply because they had to race to get a ballot when it became clear it wasn't safe.
“In the state of Wisconsin, they had a number of COVID cases that were immediately traced to people having to stand in line for a long time to vote,” Pelosi said. “So, this is not only the health of our democracy, it’s the health of our people.”
"Republicans have been frittering away their reelection chances ever since Trump tied them to his unpopular policies," Rubin closed. "They still won’t break with some of his worst ideas. Now, facing an election wipeout, they fret that he is pulling them under. Well, what did they expect?"
