Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his push for primary challenges against Senate Republicans who aren't asking for investigations into President Joe Biden and his family or an impeachment trial like their counterparts in the House.
However, a GOP strategist told The Hill that his push may backfire, as Senate Republicans may see Trump's call for primary challengers as a distraction against his legal troubles, including looming indictments in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
"A good number of Senate Republicans take a more measured approach usually. They don't knee-jerk to pressure," Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist and former Senate leadership aide, said of Trump's demands.
During a rally Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump repeated his call for primary challengers against GOP senators who aren't taking action against Biden.
"They sit back and they say, 'We have other priorities, we have to look at other things,'" Trump said. "Any Republican that doesn't act on Democrat fraud should be immediately primaried. Get out."
But there are Senate Republicans who are saying they don't want Trump to win the GOP nomination for president and are holding back from defending him, considering the reactions of swing voters and moderate Republicans to him.
In the House, key Republicans like Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads the powerful Judiciary Committee, are strongly behind Trump.
Trump further criticized Senate Republicans for not being more aggressive about Biden's finances, demanding to know why, "With all of these horrible revelations and facts, why hasn't Republican 'leadership' in the Senate spoken up and rebuked crooked Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats, fascists, and Marxists for their criminal acts against our country, some of them against me?"
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been leery on the topic of impeachment, saying that it "ought to be rare rather than common," but he understands why House Republicans support the idea.
However, referring to the two impeachment proceedings against Trump, McConnell said that he does not "think this is good for the country to have repeated impeachment problems."
An impeachment trial would be held in the Senate, which also could be a reason GOP senators are trying to appear impartial rather than make allegations of corruption against Biden, said Bonjean.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, believe they have a good opportunity in 2024 to win back control of the chamber, as just 11 incumbents are seeking reelection, while Democrats are defending 23 seats.
One of the incumbents, Sen. Mitch Romney, R-Utah, has often criticized Trump, but others like GOP Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and John Barrasso of Wyoming are keeping quiet.
Ross Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers University, said Trump's push for Senate Republicans to embrace the Biden family investigations puts the lawmakers in competitive spots in a tough situation.
"These are people who given the political physics of their congressional districts have to play a very exquisite balancing act," Baker said. "The idea that they move to impeach Biden does not play well in those districts.
"There are constituencies that will respond to any demand that Trump puts out who will say, 'I can't support [a senator] unless he gets on the impeachment bandwagon.'"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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