Collins complained that “everybody ignores” her vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.
“What bigger break could there be?” she asked. “It is never enough.”
While Collins touted her breaks with Trump, she was also a pivotal vote for key parts of his agenda. She provided a decisive vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, despite sexual assault allegations that he denied. And though she voted against Trump’s Medicaid-cutting “Big Beautiful Bill” on final passage, she was a key vote to advance debate on it.
There was an obvious answer: last time she went up for election, she could have run as an independent and won. If she’d done that, she probably would’ve won this time too.
Trump isn’t the problem; he’s the symptom. The Republican party is a big part of the problem (but again, not the entire problem).