‘Worst scenario’: Republican senator feeling used and abused by MAGA

WASHINGTON — Ever feel the full weight of the far-right messaging machine — misinformation and all — come down on you?

Welcome to the new world of one of the Republican Party’s own — Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma.

For the past four months, Lankford has been Senate Republicans lead negotiator on a bipartisan Southern border security bill — a policy Republicans demanded be included in a broader foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel — that conservatives drove to a screeching halt this week.

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In doing so, Republicans ditched the hardfought border compromise, along with Lankford, it’s GOP author.

“How’s it feel to be run over by a bus?” Raw Story asked Lankford Tuesday.

“And backed up [over]?” Lankford finished.

It’s not just that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared the $118 billion package “dead on arrival.’’ Or that Senate Republicans bailed on their party’s point person — only four, including Lankford, voted to advance the measure, which failed to advance in the Senate on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump, the head of today’s GOP, also denied ever endorsing Lankford — even though Trump absolutely endorsed him.

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Trump likewise decried the measure and sent a message directly to Lankford’s home state voters.

“This is a very bad bill for his career, especially in Oklahoma,” Trump told a far-right radio host.

That’s a lot weighing down the 55-year-old conservative.

“I’m just feeling tired,” Lankford told Raw Story while riding an elevator up to the Senate floor Wednesday.

The unflashy senator usually walks through the Capitol alone, but today he was flanked by a large contingent of his staff as he made his way to defend his work product in front of his colleagues.

“Are they here to block us reporters?” Raw Story inquired about his entourage.

“Oh, no, they’re coming to hear me speak on the floor,” Lankford calmly said. “We want to solve problems. We really do. Status quo is the worst scenario.”

Lankford may be calm, but at least one of his fellow negotiators is enraged.

“Look what they did to James Lankford. It's disgusting what they did to James,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “They put him out there and asked him on their behalf to negotiate a compromise, and then they didn't even give him the chance to argue the merits. Like, these are not serious people.”

Some of Lankford’s Republican colleagues say the deal is good and that their party just needs time to study the measure.

“They can now see that most of that was misinformation,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told reporters Tuesday.

“Senator, that misinformation is now gospel in your party,” Raw Story asked before being cut off, “what is your plan to…”

“I disagree with your assessment on that,” Rounds replied Tuesday before voting against the measure Wednesday. “There's a lot of us that are actually reading the bill, and a lot of the information that James gave us has been misconstrued by other individuals on either side. But it really is something that we've got to work hard to get the correct information out to the public about what's really in the bill.”

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The GOP seems to have moved on from the security package, even as most Republicans — Trump excluded — defended Lankford’s honor.

“He got thrown to the wolves,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “He had no leverage. He was given no running room. People who are familiar with the negotiations have described it to me, James was basically told, ‘You have to agree to this. You have to agree to that’.”

“I feel bad for him,” Hawley said. “It’s not his fault.”

Whose fault is it?

Democrats say the answer to that is undeniable.

“It's 100 percent clear what's happening here,” Murphy of Connecticut continued. “The truth is simple, in the end they sided with Donald Trump who wants chaos at the border because it helps him politically, instead of siding with the American people who want the border to be fixed.”