Even Trump’s friends are turning against him

If there is one word that best describes Senate Republicans in the age of Donald Trump, it’s “docile.” With the exception of a few independent-minded lawmakers who have been able to make a name for themselves or who have spent decades cultivating their own brand, the Senate GOP conference has played the roll of cannon fodder–dewey-eyed shock troops at the front waiting for instructions from the General residing on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. It doesn’t matter what Trump says or what controversy he creates for himself: the GOP will defend him until the last man standing.

Yet a little more than two weeks from Election Day, this dynamic is starting to change. All of a sudden, the same legislators who believed their political careers were tied to how closely they hugged Trump are now realising they need to create distance between themselves and an unpopular incumbent. Some are beginning to see a sinking ship—and they have no intention of going down with it.