GOP lawmakers are now thinking Trump may not finish out his term after Mueller bombshells: conservative columnist

Appearing on the PBS News Hour, longtime New York Times columnist David Brooks said that the rumblings he is hearing from Republican lawmakers is that they feel President Donald  Trump may not serve out his full term as the White House spirals into chaos.

Appearing with liberal stalwart Mark Shields, Brooks -- long a voice of mainstream conservatism -- said Republicans are rightfully concerned by the findings released by special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday afternoon that could be used in impeachment hearings against Trump.

“The sense you get is a lot of Republicans are looking at this White House, and they’re seeing an administration under a lot of judicial and legal threat and a lot under political threat, and they see a White House Counsel’s Office that is denuded of authority and people," Brooks explained. "And then, what they call the membrane around Trump is failing, and the membrane is the group of people they put around Trump to protect him from himself. And over the years, the Hope Hickses of the world, and maybe in the next few days the John Kellys of the world are going and gone, and so you see a Trump unprotected from himself.”

He then went on to add that some Republican lawmakers are speculating they won't have Trump as a millstone around their necks when the 2020 elections come around.

“And you’re beginning to see a lot of Republicans who are looking seriously at 2019, with a lot of Fridays like this one, and Trump really hurting himself, and maybe not serving out the term,” he added.

You can watch the video below via PBS: