Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Republican Fissures Will Only Get Wider

Senators who speak out against Trump have given up on the idea that party unity is the path to policy victories.

October 25, 2017 at 6:02 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Divided.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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It's not unprecedented for senators to part ways with presidents of their own party. But what's happening now among Republicans is definitely unusual.

Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker have openly declared President Donald Trump to be unfit for the office. Senators John McCain and Ben Sasse are close behind. Scores of other Republican members of Congress share their contempt for Trump, but stay quiet either out of fear or a calculation that Republican unity is the path to policy victories like a big tax cut.