How Trump Is Reshaping Both Parties

Charlie Cook: “My bet is that Republican elected officials are going to be extremely reluctant to publicly break with Trump, despite his anemic poll numbers. GOP officeholders and party officials will continue to fear the wrath of the Trump backers at the first sign of criticism. With so few Republicans likely to face strong Democratic challenges in 2018, either because few GOP seats are up or because few House incumbents are in competitive districts, primary challenges are their biggest fear, so they are unlikely to do anything to anger the Trump faithful.”

“On the Democratic side, can anyone win the nomination running from the middle? At one time, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York occupied that moderately liberal place, but more recently she’s moved sharply to the left. It would seem that there is no traction anywhere else in the Democratic Party. Gillibrand advertised her leftward move by casting the lone vote against retired Marine General James Mattis’s nomination to be secretary of Defense. Sen. Cory Booker’s testimony against Sen. Jeff Sessions’s nomination to be attorney general gave him an opportunity to strike a similar pose. Until now, Booker seemed to be steering clear of doing things that might pigeonhole him as a left-leaning bomb thrower.”