John Cornyn Lost With His Boots Off

Jonathan Chait: “Trump ended the career of virtually every Republican officeholder who voted to impeach him after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Now he is going after other Republicans guilty of even minor deviations from his commands.”

“As he has relentlessly hunted the dissident Republicans to extinction, his prey has, like Cornyn, tried to depict the president’s opposition as a tragic misunderstanding between friends. Even Massie put himself forward as a true Trump ally.”

“Cornyn, like so many of his fellow soon-to-be-ex-politicians, staked his survival on the hopeless tactic of trying to beat Trump’s team in a contest over who loves Trump more.”

“Overcoming Trump’s hold on the rank and file is not easy, but the method his victims have chosen—essentially to beg for Trump’s mercy, and then not receive it—saps them of their dignity without meaningfully increasing their odds of political survival.”