Why John McCain's #resistance is bad for Democrats

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel February 18 at 12:52 PM

We are living through another John McCain moment. The irascible, quotable war hero, just reelected to another six-year term to the Senate, has become once again a chief critic of President Trump.

At the Munich Security Conference, McCain — in the words of my colleague Aaron Blake — “systematically dismantled” the president's worldview. The cover of Link to tweet
" target="_blank">this week's New York magazine is “McCain vs. Trump,” a fresh profile by Gabriel Sherman in which the Arizona Republican says there must be investigations into Russian interference in our election, and looks gamely ahead to a growing resistance.

“One thing politicians look at are ratings, and his ratings are going to continue to decline,” McCain tells Sherman. “That means members of Congress will be more likely to resist things they do not agree with rather than roll over.”

McCain, who was personally insulted by Trump during the campaign and who pulled his support of him after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released, can command a lot of attention when he criticizes the president. For Democrats, who just lost an election that most people expected them to win, this appears to a boon. Historically, voters get concerned about where an administration is going if there is bipartisan opposition to its agenda. And historically, new presidents are not as unpopular as Trump, who, if not for the curiously buoyant Rasmussen poll, would be looking at average approval ratings below 40 percent. But it's not necessarily good for Democrats when McCain leads a charge against Trump. In fact, it might represent a short-term problem.

Trump feeds off mainstream Republican opposition. Just as the president can't stop talking about how he won the presidency, we should not stop remembering how he changed party politics to do so. Trump smashed the mainstream consensus of political science that nominees need party elite support to succeed. Instead, he ran as a figure outside the normal party system, pulling in voters who did not consider themselves Republicans.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/18/why-john-mccains-resistance-is-bad-for-democrats/?utm_term=.54381836c22d&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

[elleng]

1. 'we should not stop remembering how he changed party politics to do so.

Trump smashed the mainstream consensus of political science that nominees need party elite support to succeed. Instead, he ran as a figure outside the normal party system, pulling in voters who did not consider themselves Republicans.'

Dems need a really smart and politically savvy leader to address this mess. Names?

[Aristus]

2. I don't believe that for a minute.

I'm guessing most of Trump's supporters are unshakeable Republicans. The whole idea of some kind of groundswell of unaligned voters is ridiculous.

I read an interview with a woman in Kentucky who was dependent upon social services and the Affordable Care Act to get by. The interviewer asked her if she understood that Trump wanted to repeal those services when she voted for him. She said 'yes', and when asked why. She said "Well, I'm just a die-hard Republican."

People like that will never, ever change party affiliation.