GOP snipes at 'bully' Trump as party plunges into blame game territory

Republican Party lawmakers, fed up with taking the blame for President Donald Trump's failures, are launching pre-emptive strikes ahead of the upcoming midterm election, according to a new report.

In interviews with NBC News, GOP senators and operatives unloaded on the president, saying he's already setting the stage to blame Republicans if the party suffers losses in November. Trump has already latched onto the failure to pass the SAVE America Act as "his weapon of choice," they noted.

A Republican senator, speaking anonymously to avoid Trump's wrath, laid it bare: if Republicans lose seats in November, Trump "will blame it on us and the fact that we didn't pass the SAVE Act, and nobody will believe it but him."

For Trump, "everything is a zero-sum game," the lawmaker told NBC. "He likes to dominate people, and he's a bully, and he's f------ things up as fast as he can, and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Resentment is festering across Republican circles over Trump's quixotic fixation on rewriting the nation's election laws—a bill that GOP operatives view as "strategically misguided."

A longtime Republican operative advising key Senate races bluntly observed that the president "blames Republicans for most of his problems. I'm sure he will try to blame the Senate."

The operative added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), "cannot manufacture votes," and that Trump has himself to blame for for alienating outgoing Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

The operative argued those lawmakers have no longer have any incentive to bow to Trump's demands. "They will vote their conscience and not for Trump's wishes," the operative said.

"Trump’s fixation on the voting bill baffles some Republican strategists, who believe his focus is misplaced," NBC News reported. "A savvier approach to the midterms would be for him to sign and celebrate measures aimed at reducing costs and making daily life more affordable for American families, such as the housing bill."

“Poll after poll shows affordability is the top issue, and he’s got signature legislation on his desk that he won’t sign,” one strategist complained. "So that tells you where his head is on the midterms."