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Suppose youre talking to someone who says, sure, they hate Trump personally (the tweets, the rallies, etc.) but they like his policies. So theyre going to vote for Trump unless someone can convince them that his policies are bad or that Democratic policies are better. Lets think about this. What are Trumps major policies?

Its worth noting that almost all of these are just bog standard Republican policies. The two exceptions are the border wall and the tariffs. However, the wall is popular among the Republican base and the tariffs, judging from how theyve been received, were always opposed more in word than deed.

Bottom line: if youve already decided that (a) Trumps bluster isnt enough to turn you off and (b) his corruption is mostly just a bunch of bogus partisan hysterics from Democrats, what is there for an ordinary Republican voter to dislike?

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What Is There For Republicans to Dislike About Donald Trump? - Mother Jones

Michael Bloomberg listens as he is introduced to speak in Manchester, N.H, January 29, 2019. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

The fact that Michael Bloomberg was first elected as a Republican is well-known. The fact that Bloomberg endorsed George W. Bushs reelection in 2004 is generally known, although one wonders if the former mayors rivals will bring that up at Wednesdays debate.

Many people believe Bloomberg registered as a Republican in 2001 because he felt getting elected as a Republican mayor in New York would be easier than winning the mayoral nomination of the Democratic party. That may be the case, but federal election donation records indicate that Bloomberg consistently gave generously to candidates of both parties, all the way up to 2018.

Way back in 1991, Bloomberg donated $1,000 to George Bush, back when there was only one man named George Bush in the headlines. Three years later, he donated to the Senate bid of Fred Thompson in Tennessee. The following year, he donated $1,000 to Lamar Alexander, who was gearing up for a presidential bid and would later become a senator from Tennessee. Bloomberg also donated $1,000 that year to another GOP presidential candidate, Steve Forbes. (Lets face it, Forbes didnt really need the money.) In 1997, Bloomberg donated $4,000 to the New Jersey Republican State Committee, $5,000 to the New York Republican Federal Campaign Committee, and $1,000 to Matt Fong, who was gearing up for a Senate campaign in California against Barbara Boxer.

Bloomberg donated to John McCain several times over the years, and hosted a fundraiser for McCain in January 2000, during the GOP primary against Bush. In 2003, Bloomberg wasnt just a supporter of President Bushs reelection, he was a donor, contributing $2,000. He donated the maximum $4,000 ($2,000 for the primary, $2,000 for the general) to McCain and Richard Shelby of Alabama.

In 2007, he donated $250 to Rudy Giulianis presidential bid a figure that stands out as surprisingly small compared ot the other donations, and because of Bloombergs unique role as Giulianis successor. In 2010, Bloomberg gave $2,400 to Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana and $2,400 to Representative Michael Castle, who was preparing for a Senate bid in Delaware that year. In 2011, he donated $2,500 to Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and $2,500 to Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. In 2014, he donated $10,000 to the Republican Party of Massachusetts and another $5,200 to Susan Collins of Maine, who is one of the top targets of Democrats this cycle. In 2015, he contributed $2,700 to Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

Democrats warming up to Bloomberg may dismiss all that as pre-Trump ancient history. But in 2016, Bloomberg contributed $2,700 to Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania and another $2,700 to McCain.

In fact, Bloomberg kept giving to a pair of Republicans in the Trump era. He hosted a fundraiser for Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, in June 2018 and also donated $5,400 to Representative Dan Donovan, another New York Republican, who lost his bid for reelection.

While Bloomberg announced he was leaving the Republican Party in 2007, he only announced that he had formally changed his party affiliation to Democrat on October 10, 2018.

Tomorrow night, one of his rivals may want to point out to Democratic primary voters that Bloomberg has been financing the opposition for many, many years.

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Mike Bloomberg Gave to a Lot of Republicans Over the Years - National Review

But Romney's tactics drew immediate blowback from the right. Appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who is up for election this fall, tweeted that Romney "wants to appease the left by calling witnesses who will slander the @realDonaldTrump during their 15 minutes of fame."

Yet it was inarguable that the mood on Capitol Hill has changed drastically since the White House wrapped up two hours of its opening arguments on Saturday. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has been saying for weeks he doesn't want to hear from any witnesses, admitted it "could be" useful to hear from Bolton as long as the Bidens and other GOP-requested witnesses are hauled into the Senate trial, too.

We need to figure out whats best for the court of impeachment, whats best for country. And thats something we will have to consider," Graham said. But he doused the idea of only hearing from Bolton with ice water: "If we add to the record, we need to do it completely."

"It may move the needle," said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). "Im not going to deny its going to change the decibel level and probably the intensity with which we talk about witnesses."

A spokesman for McConnell said he did not have "any advance notice" about Bolton's book manuscript.

Romney added the caveat that he would still need to hear from the White House to make a final decision on whether to consider new witnesses, but hes said all along that he wants to hear from Bolton. He also said he could not say that Bolton's testimony would determine whether he ultimately votes to acquit Trump or not.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who is a key swing vote on witnesses, maintained his stance: He will make a decision on witnesses after the Senate's 16-hour question-and-answer period. At least four Republicans would need to join with all Democrats to advance the question of whether to seek new evidence and hear from witnesses.

So far, McConnell is prevailing. But after being down on their prospects last week, Democrats are wondering whether he could end up having to consider witnesses after all.

Its going to be hard to hold back. I dont know how they do it," said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Theyd be hard pressed not to have at least four or five of our Republican colleagues and friends that would vote for witnesses.

Senate Republicans discussed the news of Boltons conversation with Trump, reported by the New York Times, at a party lunch on Monday. McConnell reminded senators they don't need to make a decision on witnesses until later in the week, said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Monday afternoon.

As Trump attacked Bolton's credibility, some top Senate Republicans used a variety of arguments to try to downplay the new information from Bolton. Party leaders have been relentlessly arguing that hearing new witnesses could tie up the Senate for weeks if and when Trump exerts executive privilege to block their testimony. Executive privilege generally extends to current staffers, unlike Bolton who Trump fired in September.

We learned nothing new, nothing new," Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the number three Republican, asserted on Monday morning as Senate GOP leaders prepared to meet. "What weve now seen is a selective leak from a book. This is like Kavanaugh all over again.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), another member of the GOP leadership, said calling new witnesses would set an "incredibly dangerous precedent of frequent impeachments litigated by the Senate.

Im still of the view that the Houses job is to put the case together and they didnt do that. But members might decide its now the Senates job, Blunt said.

Democrats have made a consistent push since the start of the trial to subpoena Bolton, along with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Until Sunday evening, however, it seemed that Trump was on a glide path to acquittal by the end of the week.

But now Senate Republicans are sure to face growing pressure from inside and outside their ranks to justify why they dont want to hear from Bolton, who heard directly from Trump on the Ukraine aid issue. Boltons claims undercut a key argument of Trumps defense, which will hold its second day of opening arguments on Monday afternoon.

Trump's national security adviser from April 2018 to Sept. 2019, Bolton was among top administration officials who urged the president to restore aid to Ukraine. And he's long been respected by the Senate GOP. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) questioned the timing of Bolton's new revelations but didn't attack his credibility: "My guess is John Bolton tells the truth."

Bolton was also very critical of Rudy Giuliani's role in shaping Ukraine policy, calling him a "hand grenade" that would blow up on the White House, according to impeachment testimony from Dr. Fiona Hill, a former top NSC aide. Trump said early Monday that he "never told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens."

Republicans "can deny and deny and deny. But Bolton has a credibility that surpasses Rudy Giuliani or Donald Trump, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Heather Caygle, Melanie Zanona and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.

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Bolton upends Republican fight against witnesses - POLITICO

Thousands of people have taken to Twitter to explain why they stopped supporting the Republican Party using the hashtag #ILeftTheGOP.

The topic was among the top trends on Monday morning as users posted their reasons for leaving the party, with many placing the blame on President Donald Trump.

The hashtag took off after columnist Cheri Jacobus tweeted that she left the party in 2016 as they nominated Trump and asked others to share when they "cut the cord."

Author Susan Bragwell described how she left the GOP when they became the "bootlicking, compromised, spineless, faithless, big government lackeys and cultists for an immoral, inept, would-be mob boss."

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She added: "#ILeftTheGOP because they no longer represent me or my values as a Christian or a conservative. They're p***y-grabbing, lying, hateful, immoral weasels. I'm a happy Independent, now. No party owns my vote. It has to be EARNED!"

Radio host and comedian Dean Obeidallah said: "Trump is the GOP and GOP is Trump. Supporting Trump means you support Trump's cruel demeaning of women who have been abused, his demonization of Muslims and continued use of anti-Semitic tropes, his anti-LGBTQ policies, his hateful comments about Blacks and Latinos. Donald Trump not only self-impeached himself, he's now self-removing himself with his lies."

Stand-up performer Craig Shoemaker described how he left the GOP a while ago. "Flew away when I saw behind the curtain of greed & deceit was on another level from Dems. But once they abandoned all integrity & values by offering blind support to@realDonaldTrump, it became a 1 way ticket."

Others used specific examples of Trump's behaviour or conduct to say why they left the party, including his endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore who at the time was facing several allegations of sex offenses against underage girls.

Others described how they left the GOP several years ago, citing reasons such as John McCain choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate during the 2008 election campaign, and one user who left in 2014 accusing the party of being "dominated by bigots and religious fanatics."

Twitter user @tiedtoanight wrote that they left the GOP in 2016 having voted for Democratic president Barack Obama in 2012.

"Leaving the GOP had been a long process for me as I was raised in a conservative household. I keep telling myself this isn't the GOP I voted for in the past but maybe it is. Maybe I was just blind. I'm not anymore," @tiedtoanight wrote.

According to a January Gallup poll, 27 percent of Americans consider themselves a Republican over a Democrat or Independent, down from 28 percent in December 2019 and 30 percent in November.

Over the past 16 years of Gallup surveys, the highest number of people who said they consider themselves Republican was in September 2004, when 39 percent said they align with the party under George W. Bush's administration.

In a statement to Newsweek, Republican National Committee spokesperson Mandi Merritt said: "Thanks to his historic record of results and ability to appeal to a broad coalition of voters, President Trump continues to bring in new members to the Party of opportunity. Not to mention, impeachment continues to backfire on Democrats and fire up voters toward President Trump and the Republican movement.

"Since this sham began, we've seen over 600,000 new donors join our movement and over 100,000 new volunteers join our efforts to defeat Democrats up and down the ballot in November."

More here:
#ILeftTheGOP Trends as Former Republicans Share Why They 'Cut the Cord' With the Party - Newsweek

Republicans in the Senate are facing new pressure to subpoena key witnesses on the impeachment trial of President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations Former senior Senate GOP aide says Republicans should call witnesses Title, release date revealed for Bolton memoir MORE.

The Senate was headed into the second week of the trial facing a pivotal vote on the subject, and it looked like Democrats would almost certainly not win the four GOP votes needed to subpoena new witnesses.

But that was before areport Sunday night in The New York Times.

The report, based on an unpublished manuscript by Trump's former national security adviser John BoltonJohn BoltonTrump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations Former senior Senate GOP aide says Republicans should call witnesses Title, release date revealed for Bolton memoir MORE, said Bolton in his forthcoming book claims the president tied $391 million in aid to Ukraine to his requests for that country to investigate former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations Former senior Senate GOP aide says Republicans should call witnesses Title, release date revealed for Bolton memoir MORE and his son Hunter.

Democrats immediately pounced on the news, with the Democratic impeachment managers saying there was no excuse for GOP senators not to vote for witnesses.

Bolton is one of the witnesses most important to hear from, Democrats were saying even before the new report.

"Senators should insist that Mr. Bolton be called as a witness, and provide his notes and other relevant documents. The Senate trial must seek the full truth and Mr. Bolton has vital information to provide," the House managers said in a statement.

The White House was aware of the claims in Bolton's book, thought it is not clear for how long.

Ambassador Boltons manuscript was submitted to the NSC for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the NSC. No White House personnel outside NSC have reviewed the manuscript,National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement.

Senate Republican leaders before the Bolton revelations had voiced confidence that they will keep their conference unified enough to defeat a motion to subpoena new evidence, which could allow the trial to wrap up at the end of the week.

The GOP is almost certain to lose the vote of Sen. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsDemocrats step up pressure over witnesses after Bolton bombshell Impeachment manager dismisses concerns Schiff alienated key Republican votes: 'This isn't about any one person' Kaine: GOP senators should 'at least' treat Trump trial with seriousness of traffic court MORE (R-Maine), and Sen. Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyDemocrats step up pressure over witnesses after Bolton bombshell Kaine: GOP senators should 'at least' treat Trump trial with seriousness of traffic court Des Moines Register endorses Elizabeth Warren as Democratic presidential nominee MORE (R-Utah)on Saturday said that its very likely hell vote for additional witnesses.

The third and fourth GOP votes required by Democrats to win a majority have been seen as trickier gets.

Sen. Lisa MurkowskiLisa Ann MurkowskiDemocrats step up pressure over witnesses after Bolton bombshell Impeachment manager dismisses concerns Schiff alienated key Republican votes: 'This isn't about any one person' Kaine: GOP senators should 'at least' treat Trump trial with seriousness of traffic court MORE (R-Alaska) said Saturday she is reviewing her notes and dismissed speculation that she is leaning against new witnesses.

There are a lot of people trying to divine tea leaves, Murkowski quipped about the intense scrutiny over her statements.

Murkowski insisted she is keeping an open mind on voting for subpoenas for Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick MulvaneyJohn (Mick) Michael MulvaneyFormer senior Senate GOP aide says Republicans should call witnesses Bolton lawyer slams 'corrupted' White House review process after book leak Democrats step up pressure over witnesses after Bolton bombshell MORE.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffWhite House spokesperson: Media's 'obsession' with impeachment 'won't let up' Trump rips Chuck Todd for 'softball' Schiff interview Democrats, Republicans tussle over witnesses as vote approaches MORE (D-Calif.), the lead manager of the House impeachment team, irritated Collins and other GOP senators when he said in his closing statement on Friday night that they feared crossing Trump.

Murkowski, however, said Schiffs remarks wouldnt factor in her decision making.

Ive taken a lot of notes it takes me back to law school. What I havent done is I havent gone through any of those, but along the way I made little asterisks and notations about what I want to see, what questions I still have. So I have lot of work to do on my own, she said.

Democrats had been growing more pessimistic about winning the witness vote, but the report in the Times gave new momentum to their calls.

"Amb. Bolton reportedly heard directly from Trump that aid for Ukraine was tied to political investigations. The refusal of the Senate to call for him, other relevant witnesses, and documents is now even more indefensible," Pelosi tweeted.

A vote could take place soon.

Trumps defense team, which used only a couple hours of its allotted floor time on Saturday, will renew its arguments at 1 p.m. Monday but is not expected to use its full 24 hours.

Senate Democrats say they plan to use the full 16 hours to ask questions after opening arguments, which sets up a debate Wednesday or Thursday on whether it should be in order to call for additional evidence.

If that motion fails, the trial could be wrapped up by the end of the week.

GOP leaders have warned their colleagues that Trump will invoke executive privilege over his conversations with Bolton and Mulvaney and that a court fight to settle it might drag the trial out for weeks.

Rep. Zoe LofgrenZoe Ellen LofgrenDemocrats, Republicans tussle over witnesses as vote approaches Sunday shows - Spotlight shifts to Trump tweet, Senate trial witnesses Impeachment manager says senators should vote for witnesses as a 'favor' to the country MORE (D-Calif.), one of the impeachment managers, admitted Sunday, before the Times report, that she has no idea what to expect from potential GOP swing votes such asSen. Lamar AlexanderAndrew (Lamar) Lamar AlexanderDemocrats step up pressure over witnesses after Bolton bombshell Schumer: Trump's team made case for new witnesses 'even stronger' The Hill's Morning Report Dems detail case to remove Trump for abuse of power MORE (R-Tenn.)or Sens. Cory GardnerCory Scott GardnerDemocrats feel political momentum swinging to them on impeachment Senate Republicans confident they'll win fight on witnesses Tensions between McConnell and Schumer run high as trial gains momentum MORE (R-Colo.) and Martha McSallyMartha Elizabeth McSallyDemocrats feel political momentum swinging to them on impeachment Senate Republicans confident they'll win fight on witnesses How Citizens United altered America's political landscape MORE (R-Ariz.), who both face reelection this year and potential primary challenges.

As I speak and I sit there, I find myself looking at the senators a lot of them I served with when they were in the House and wondering whats going through their minds, she said on CNNs State of the Union Sunday

Democrats say that vulnerable GOP incumbents will pay a political price in Novembers general election if they vote against witnesses, pointing to recent polls showing strong public support for calling additional evidence, even among Republicans.

But GOP incumbents also have to weigh the backlash from the GOP base if they vote to extend the trial of a president who has maintained strong approval ratings among Republican voters.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued Saturday that voting to remove Trump from office would be a far greater subversion of democracy than anything Democrats have charged Trump with.

Theyre asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election thats occurring in approximately nine months, he said. Theyre here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history.

Jordain Carney contributed.

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Senate Republicans face pivotal moment on impeachment witnesses | TheHill - The Hill