NBC News' Chuck Todd questioned on Wednesday whether President Donald Trump pushed two Republican senators into retirement.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., announced on Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his term instead of seeking re-election. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., made a similar announcement earlier in September. Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning that they were retiring because they have "zero chance of being elected" in 2018.
"Donald Trump today, you could argue, has more of a grip on the Republican Party today than he did yesterday," Todd said on MSNBC Wednesday, according to Mediaite.
He later posed this question to host Andrea Mitchell: "If Donald Trump were more polite, would Jeff Flake still be running and would Bob Corker still be running even if he was still a protectionist, even if he was still an isolationist?"
The "Meet the Press" moderator then answered his own question, saying "I think the answer is yes, I think they'd both be running."
"For now this split appears to be more about style, decorum and character. It's not a split on substance. It's a long way of saying, I guess I get what the [Democratic National Committee] is trying to do, I think they're concerned that they're losing an ability here to actually draw issue contrasts with the Republicans right now."
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