President Donald Trump officially announced Thursday that he was withdrawing Rep. Elise Stefanik's (R-NY) nomination to the United Nations — and critics chimed in that this is about much more than the House Republicans' razor-thin majority.
Aaron Fritschner, the former deputy chief of staff for Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) argued that the GOP's concern isn't that Stefanik's seat would be empty while a replacement is found.
It's that the seat in a staunchly Republican district could be flipped.
"If they pull Stefanik's nomination, it won't be out of concern over a vacancy; New York law requires a fast turnaround on filling vacancies, as we famously saw last year," he said. "Their true concern is losing a special election in a district Trump won by 21 points. And they are right to worry about that!"
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Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman revealed that the news Stefanik will be "rejoining the leadership team" has "taken a lot of members of the leadership by surprise!"
"So sad to see a craven sycophant like Elise Stefanik be told she can't leave her House seat," mocked legal analyst Chris Geidner.
"If the Administration’s action were popular, then they wouldn’t have pulled Stefanik’s nomination. But what Trump is doing is not popular. It’s bats--t crazy. Americans are fed up with the incompetence, lying and illegal behavior. That’s why Dems keep winning special elections," said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).
Longtime Democratic fundraising consultant Mike Nellis remarked, "Pulling Stefanik’s nomination is a huge loss for Republicans—and an even bigger show of weakness for Trump. They’re too afraid to face the voters in a deep red district because they’re destroying the economy and making Americans less safe. Keep up the fight and don’t hold back."
"Trump can’t afford to risk Stefanik’s seat because their polling shows they’re in deep s--t for the midterms. All that bullsh-- boasting about an historic mandate, and they’re in full retreat this week," he later added.
CNN's DJ Judd noticed, "Stefanik spent the last week posting throwback pics from her time in Congress."
Occasional talking head Andrew Donaldson, who writes mostly about West Virginia politics, commented, "Elise Stefanik's ambition fail here should not only be pointed at, and not only laughed at, but pointed & laughed at. A complete public persona 180 for Trump, burning her Ivy League & NYC bone fides, now sidelined just for her regular floor vote...this is good stuff Ready: go."
The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson was quick to join that bandwagon. He posted a clip of the film "Mean Girls," and the non-apology from Gretchen saying, "I'm sorry people are so jealous of me. But I can't help it that I'm popular."
Wilson said it was, "Elise Stefanik, right now."