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The reality is starting to dawn on Republicans that they don’t know what Trump and his campaign did with Russia, so blindly covering for him might not be such a good idea.

The Atlantic reported on the comments of one Republican operative:

That pattern of behavior doesn’t just provide ammunition to his critics, it also unnerves the president’s allies. One Republican operative with extensive foreign-policy experience pointed to the reports of undisclosed contact between Trump’s aides and the Russians, and wondered if there might be more revelations to come. “If they’re stupid enough to be doing stuff like that, they’re also probably too stupid to realize that there are various [foreign] intelligence agencies … that have the goods on them,” he said. “They’re probably sitting on tapes—what if they get motive to release them?”

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Republicans have been covering up for Trump without knowing what he and his campaign did. If that sounds stupid, dangerous, and completely in line with our partisan political environment, that’s because it is all of those things and more.

Many Republicans aren’t supporting Trump because they like him, or they believe in him. Trump is a means to fulfill their policy goals, but they are beginning to understand that no policy is going to get done if Washington is consumed by the Russia scandal, so the danger for Trump is that the time may be coming soon when Republicans decide to throw Trump overboard before he sinks the whole GOP Congressional majority.

With midterm elections coming next year, Republicans are figuring out that what they don’t know about Trump and Russia could kill them, and if the choice comes down to control of Congress or Trump, Republicans are going to save their seats and abandon the president.