Chris, Susan Collins did it again.

For days, we've been waiting to hear whether GOP Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) would show some courage and support having John Bolton come testify at Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Last night we got her answer, and it typical Susan Collins duplicity.

Collins waited until the very last moment to share her decision, and just before Senator Lamar Alexander (R-RN) came out and said he would NOT vote for having witnesses, effectively killing the effort, Collins came out and said she would support it.

Now, you'd think that would be good news, right? Wrong. Rather than coming out early and stating her support for witnesses days ago, which would have bolstered other Senators considering the same, Collins waited until after Mitch McConnell knew Alexander was a NO-vote, which thus gave her permission to vote YES since her vote would no longer matter as the witness issue was now dead in the water.

I worked in the US Senate for five years, this is a typical tactic for giving Senators cover back home. You wait until the last minute, then when you know their vote won't matter anyway, you give Senators permission to vote "the wrong way." Your side still wins the vote, and at the same time you give embattled Senators on your side a chance to fool the voters back home into thinking they did the right thing, when they didn't.

Collins, rather than speaking up early when she could have made a difference, appears to waited yet again for Uncle Mitch's permission. You'll recall she did the same thing on the Kavanaugh nomination: Pretending she was all "concerned" and "disturbed," and then caving in the end as she always does.

Nothing will change in Washington until we can defeat people like Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. McConnell's majority in the Senate, which previously hadn't been thought in play, now is. Democrats now have a chance at winning back the Senate and stopping the Republicans in their tracks.

We are, of course, opposing Susan Collins' reelection, and have set an ActBlue page to support Collins' eventual Democratic opponent and our efforts to beat the Republicans in November. Would you please pitch in?

Thanks, JOHN

PS And if you want, you can support our work directly here. Thanks again.

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