Meet the Republican members of the Trump 'resistance' who are skipping the GOP convention... and the Donald's coronation as their candidate
- Four GOP senators who voted to impeach Trump won't be at the convention
- Trump's MAGA-themed event starts Monday in Milwaukee
As Donald Trump's Milwaukee convention shapes up to be a full-on MAGA pep rally, prominent Republican dissenters in the Senate are saying they plan to skip it entirely.
Trump's Senate critics, including all four of those who remain in office after voting to impeach him after January 6th, are steering clear of the Trump-centric blowout set to kick off Monday in a state key to his White House hopes.
Among those skipping the affair is Maine Senator Susan Collins, who is opting for her home state, which has long served as a summer getaway for visitors.
'I don't go to every national convention. I always go to the state one,' she told DailyMail.com this week as the Democrats were in free fall over President Biden.
'I'd rather be in Maine. I've got events scheduled. Who wouldn't rather be in Maine?' she added, after dismissing the idea it had anything to do with substance.
Collins' frequent Senate partner Sen. Lisa Murkowski is also opting for a schedule that will allow her to beat the political heat.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins (right) won't be attending the Republican convention. 'I'd rather be in Maine,' she said
'The Senator will not be at the convention this year, she will be back in Alaska,' spokesman Joseph Plesha told DailyMail.com.
Nor will retiring Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, a perpetual Trump target. 'He won’t be attending convention,' said spokeswoman Paige Waltz, without elaborating on his plans.
That comes a few months after Romney, his party's 2012 nominee who became a prominent Trump critic in the Senate, revealed he won't be voting for the man who has staged a nearly complete takeover of the party, installing his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a cochair of the Republican National Committee and dispensing with a platform plank on a national abortion ban that could be a political burden.
'My wing of the party is like a chicken wing, all right? It’s a little, tiny thing that doesn’t take the bird off the ground. So we’re going to have to change that in my view,' Romney told MSNBC in May.
It's not just senators from cool weather climes or with multiple vacation homes like Romney who are declining to join the thousands of delegates descending on Milwaukee.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy also won't be there, and will instead be home in Baton Rouge. 'He will be spending time with his grandchild,' said his spokeswoman, Molly Block.
None of the Republicans stated that their decisions had anything to do with Trump, as the party marches toward a convention armed with a new party platform that echoes many of the former president's speech applause lines, with a second plank calling to 'Seal the Border and Stop the Migrant Invasion.'
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (upper right, above Collins) will spend the convention in her home state of Alaska, while Sen. Bill Cassidy (bottom second from left) will be at home in Louisiana
2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney is also skipping the convention
The moves come as Trump has expanded his control over his party, and put in place a platform that reflects his campaign speeches
‘You know there was a lot of bad blood there. She stayed too long,’ Trump groused, after Nikki Haley said she won't attend the convention, and will be urging her delegates to get behind Trump
'I cannot support former President Trump and I voted to convict him on the second impeachment charges. So I don't think it should come as a surprise to anyone that I cannot support him,' Collins said in late March, as Trump secured the nomination, even while revealing she is 'not happy with President Biden's administration.'
Of the seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after January 6, just four remain: Collins, Murkowski, Romney, and Cassidy. Three others, Sens. Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, and Pat Toomey, have left the chamber.
On Tuesday, Politico reported that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Trump's final GOP presidential primary opponent, wasn't invited to the convention but is 'fine' with it. She is releasing her 97 delegates and urging them to vote for Trump.
Haley 'was not invited, and she’s fine with that,' said her spokesman. 'Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.'
Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade he would 'take a look' at the matter, but then seethed about how Haley lingered in the race after it was all but over – in a signal to his backers not to let bygones be bygones.
‘You know there was a lot of bad blood there. She stayed too long,’ Trump groused.
