Augusta, ME – In a new Portland Press Herald op-ed, columnist Steve Collins calls out Susan Collins for engaging in “slimy campaigning,” catering to a “MAGA lie,” and “sacrificing her legacy to President Trump.” According to the column, “Sen. Collins is trying to rouse Trump loyalists to vote for her in big numbers. As long as Trump is telling penny-pinching Americans they shouldn’t worry about rising costs, it probably won’t work.”

Portland Press Herald: Susan Collins will regret this descent into sleaze

• One of the saddest developments of this year’s U.S. Senate campaign in Maine has been watching Susan Collins, a senator once renowned for civility and decency, damage her own legacy in an attempt to win a sixth term in office.

• It has been obvious for months that Collins is pinning her reelection hopes on juicing turnout among voters who support President Donald Trump — something highlighted by her casual embrace of the Maine Wire’s sickening racism and vulgar politics. […]

• After the Maine Wire posted clips of Somali citizens voting at Lewiston’s city hall, Sen. Collins weighed in on one of the right-wing website’s manufactured controversies by declaring that “only Americans should be voting in American elections.” Instead of defending the right of Somali-Americans to cast ballots, Sen. Collins chose to cater to the MAGA lie that foreigners are swarming the polls.

• When Collins brought former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to Maine to laud her record, she had him stand beside her as she posed for a photo with the Maine Wire’s awful “sword of truth,” a prop that was previously waved around in front of mosque-goers in Lewiston. Collins is no stranger to the sword.

• Asked what Sen. Collins thinks it stands for, a Collins spokesperson said Monday in a memorable bit of PR: “The sword of truth symbolizes a willingness to take steps toward fiscal responsibility.”

• Make no mistake: Sen. Collins is trying to rouse Trump loyalists to vote for her in big numbers. As long as Trump is telling penny-pinching Americans they shouldn’t worry about rising costs, it probably won’t work.  

• […] Voters have a stark choice, [Matt Dunlap] said: “We can either stop Trump or succumb to him.”

• Sen. Collins had that choice, too. She’s opted to succumb. Her willingness to engage in slimy campaigning is going to tarnish her legacy.