Trump is being harshly criticized

Many in the GOP have long criticized President Donald Trump’s crude behavior and unorthodox way of governing. But mostly they've done it in whispers, off the record and away from the television cameras. In recent weeks, however, Republicans have begun criticizing Trump sharply in public.

For instance, the chairmen of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Appropriations committees, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Richard Shelby of Alabama, respectively, went on TV this month and chided Trump for belittling top U.S. intelligence officials.

“These people have the real knowledge and you have to listen to them,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday.

“It’s troubling to all of us,” Shelby said on CNN.

Last month, 43 of 53 Senate Republicans were part of a 68-23 majority that rebuked Trump for his decision to draw down U.S. troops in Syria and Afghanistan. The vote was for a nonbinding amendment warning that “a precipitous withdrawal” could destabilize Syria and create an opportunity for Iran or Russia.

Donald Trump's emergency declaration is an attack on democracy

Trump border emergency is fake and climate crisis is real. Guess which just got funded?

The Trump investigations are coming at last. Can Republicans handle the truth?

Trump’s policy, said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, “directly undermines one of the two pillars of our strategy and our policy in the region."

And late last year, Iowa’s Charles Grassley, then the second most senior Republican in the Senate (he's now the first), blasted the president for publicly insulting John Kelly, the outgoing White House chief of staff. Trump claimed that Kelly — a retired four-star Marine Corps general — wasn’t up to the job.

“I wish President Trump would never discuss publicly any ill feelings has abt his CofStaff Gen Kelly. After all he was a Marine for 47 yrs. defended our freedoms. We need show respect,” Grassley tweeted.

The next significant test for Republicans comes Tuesday, when the House is scheduled to vote on a resolution to kill Trump’s national emergency on the Mexican border. The measure introduced Friday by House Democrats would block Trump's end run around Congress to get money for his wall and protect the House's constitutional "power of the purse."

The measure has one GOP co-sponsor, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan. How many other Republicans, if any, will be willing to distance themselves from the weak incumbent in the White House?

It’s no coincidence that the GOP criticism has ramped up since the November election that saw Democrats win the House by more than 9.7 million votes nationally, an all-time midterm record.

Trump called the midterms a great victory because Republicans retained control of the Senate. But the map favored them anyway, and the fact that the president tried and failed to get Republicans elected in deep red states like West Virginia and  Kansas — or in states he flipped in 2016, like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan — is evidence enough that this is a politician with short coattails. Unemployment is low, wages are rising, gasoline is cheap — and he still failed.

And what will happen to those already short coattails if the economy continues to flag? Growth has already slowed from 4.2 percent last spring to 3.4 percent last fall. A Wall Street Journal survey of economists predicts 2.0 percent in the first quarter of this year. Heading into 2020, the survey calls for growth of just 1.7 percent.

Senate Republicans will also face border test

These aren’t the kinds of numbers that instill fear or loyalty. Vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in purple states next year may survey the landscape and calculate that distancing themselves from Trump offers less downside than it might have, say, a year ago, when the economy was stronger. Senate Republicans who fall into this category include, among others, Martha McSally in Arizona, Cory Gardner in Colorado and Susan Collins in Maine.

Late last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged all members, including Republicans, to vote Tuesday against the president. The privileged resolution (a bill that is given priority because it is considered a matter of great urgency) will automatically receive a vote on the Senate floor as well — forcing Republicans in both chambers to show whether they stand with Trump or not.

And, of course, no one knows what cards special counsel Robert Mueller will be putting on the table. Trump keeps saying “no collusion” and attacking the former FBI director and decorated Marine war hero. But if there’s nothing to worry about, why all the attacks? If Trump’s clean as he insists, why the obsession with killing the probe? Why not sit back, be vindicated and then say “I told you so”?

My hunch is many Republicans have asked themselves the same questions. It is this uncertainty and doubt, on top of everything else, that could drive increasing daylight between Republican lawmakers and the president.