Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) didn't try to be diplomatic when he announced over the weekend he would be retiring from Congress after just two terms: President Donald Trump was a major factor.
"Whether it's Stormy Daniels," he told the Daily Local News on Sunday, "or passing an omnibus spending bill that the president threatens to veto after promising to sign, it's very difficult to move forward in a constructive way today."
To hear this GOP congressman heading for the exit tell it, Trump is standing in the way of Republicans getting anything done. And there are plenty of other Republicans who will agree with Costello behind closed doors.
Such is the cruel reality for Republicans. They control Washington for the first time in a decade, in large part thanks to Trump winning the White House when no one expected him to. And now they are at risk of losing their congressional majorities in large part thanks to Trump's distractions, vacillations, unpredictability and unpopularity.
Republicans in Congress are retiring in historic numbers this year. Nearly 50 Republicans in the House and Senate have announced they are retiring, and 25 of those are retiring outright or have already left office, compared with just 10 House Democrats. Those who didn't blame Trump blamed the dysfunction in Congress for their decision to leave.
The government has shut down twice in 2018, and it almost shut down for a third time on Friday when Trump threatened to veto a spending bill that Republicans heaved through Congress to keep the government open.
Costello was one of the most blunt, but he's not the only Republican retiring from Congress to point the finger at Trump for their decision to leave politics. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) made his whole retirement speech about Trump, specifically the damage he feels the president is inflicting not just on his party but on democracy.
"The president was a factor," retiring Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) told CNN in December on his decision not to run for a eighth term.
Even those who haven't explicitly said they are leaving because of Trump are arguably leaving in part because of Trump. The president's unpopularity in places like California, Washington and Virginia very likely factored into vulnerable Republicans' decision to step down rather than run for re-elections they might not win.
In California, powerful Reps. Darrell Issa and Edward R. Royce decided to retire rather than wage an expensive re-election campaign in districts Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
To bring this back to Costello, it's not a coincidence that he decided to retire after a Democrat clinched a special election across the state that went for Trump by 20 points. Rather inconveniently for Republicans, Costello is retiring after the filing deadline has passed, which means they will have to jump through hoops or even launch a write-in campaign to get a candidate in the race.
But in this political environment, figure Costello and a historic number of Republicans, better to be out than stay in and live through more frustration, unpredictability, scandal--and likely election losses as a result.
Editorial on 03/28/2018