Good morning, and welcome to another week of our daily political hellscape. I'll be your guide through the morass of bullshit. If you're just joining us, I update this post throughout the day.

The big news of the weekend was Trump's decision, on late Saturday night, not to host the G7 at Doral, his golf resort. He did not have a crisis of conscience. No, it's just that the Republicans didn't want one more thing added to their plate of things they had to defend. From The Washington Post:

In a round of phone calls with conservative allies this weekend, Trump was told Republicans are struggling to defend him on so many fronts, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters ...

Trump's decision to host next year's G-7 meeting at his private golf club only increased the anxiety among GOP lawmakers, some of whom have grown weary of having to develop new talking points almost daily.

Privately, and occasionally in public, several Republicans said they were not prepared to defend the president from charges that he was engaged in self-dealing on the G-7 site selection.

In that same piece, there were a lot of suggestions that Mick Mulvaney is losing the support of the White House, as several officials have started to distance themselves from him, although Trump still says he supports his acting Chief of Staff (which, of course, means nothing, because Trump always expresses support right up until he fires someone or, you know, abandons them and leaves them to die in Syria). I think it's strange that Mulvaney is on the hot seat, because Mulvaney is the only guy in the White House who actually tells the truth occasionally, and that apparently is why Mulvaney is on the hot seat.

Note, however, that though Republicans are "weary" of defending Trump, it doesn't mean they're going to stop. According to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute released yesterday, 55 percent of Republicans who support Trump and watch Fox News, there is "virtually nothing" that Trump could do to lose their support. In other words, he absolutely could shoot someone in the middle of Times Square and maintain his hold on those voters, and the re-election prospects for many of those Republicans in Congress rely on those who would support a President that murdered someone in Times Square.

If you're looking ahead to 2020, however, there are signs that Republicans could lose their majority in the Senate. Four Republican incumbent Senators are being outraised by their Democratic opponents. Things are not looking good for GOP Senators in Iowa, North Carolina, Arizona, and Maine, where House Speaker Sara Gideon raised $3.2 million in the third quarter, $1 million more than Susan Collins. I live in Maine. I just don't see how Susan Collins survives. Gideon is well-liked, and the state is blue. Collins has long managed to maintain her seat by relying on Democrats and Independents. She lost Democrats over the Kavanaugh vote. When Trump is impeached, Collins will seal her doom by voting to impeach (losing her GOP support) or not to impeach (losing everyone else). I have no sympathy at all for Collins, but I would note that it's not a good time to be a "moderate" in any center-left state.

Meanwhile, I am sorry, but I am loving that Mitt Romney has had a secret Twitter account, and now he's even owning up to it. Romney has been the only GOP Senator to speak out against Trump, mild though that criticism has been. However, in his "likes" on the secret account, he has at least favorited Tweets from others who are more critical (including George Conway). Now that he's been outed, I hope that Romney removes his filter and starts sh*tting on Trump in whatever ways Mormon dudes from Utah can. Utah Republicans seem to be the only Republicans immune to the Trump cult. Besides, Romney doesn't run again until 2024, when Trump is not even on the ticket, so he has nothing to fear (you'd think Cruz and Rubio, in the same boat, would be more critical of Trump, too, considering how much Trump has shat on them in the past, but then again, they're cowards).

I think people here tend to tune out when I start talking about foreign policy, but I should note that the commander of the Kurdish forces, Mazlum Kobani, is legit terrified that his people will be wiped out. "There will be ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish people from Syria, and the American administration will be responsible for it," he said.

As US troops leave Northern Syria, abondoned Kurds show signs that read, "Thanks for US people, but Trump betrayed us" and "Tell your children that the children of the Kurds were killed by the Turks and you did nothing to protect them." pic.twitter.com/cg6NAuvip7

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) October 21, 2019

Meanwhile, the Turkish President, Erdogan, clearly has no respect for Trump, and not only does he plan to take over Kurdish land in Syria, he's now looking to obtaining a nuclear bomb. Trump is gonna sit there and watch, too. "It's not our problem."

But it's not like Trump is actually removing troops from the Middle East. He's just strategically placing them where the oil can be protected because oil is more important to the President than the lives of our allies.

I guess this is what Trump meant by securing the oil. https://t.co/bpnq2atjaJ

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) October 21, 2019

And this is the end result:

Since defense secretary says US troops aren't going home from Syria - where they've been EFFECTIVELY fighting ISIS - but moving next door to Iraq to fight ISIS from there, the only results are: 1 creating chaos which helps ISIS regroup & 2 leaving US allies, the Kurds, to die.

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) October 20, 2019