What Mainers Are Saying: “Sen. Collins Ought to Show Courage Against Trump or Step Aside”

Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, Mainers continue to slam Susan Collins for refusing to stand up to the Trump Administration and instead being a reliable vote for the GOP - criticizing everything from her vote to confirm nearly every Trump cabinet nominee to her "pivotal vote" to advance Republicans' dangerous budget bill that will have devastating impacts on Maine.

Here's what they're saying:

• Bob Riley in the Portland Press Herald: What in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s past writings or speeches would indicate that he was a person of any moral turpitude or character? Did she really believe his lies, under oath? Could Sen. Collins really not see this coming? The senator's position that, with a change of administration, the new president should be able to choose "his people," is foolish, inane and a malpractice perpetrated on America [...] We need elected officials who will place country over party, and right now, Sen. Collins has demonstrated, for far too long, that she is the consummate party girl. Nov. 3, 2026, cannot come soon enough.

• Rabbi Andy Bachman in the Portland Press Herald: "The senator voted to approve Trump appointee Russell Vought, author of the cuts to USAID, which have caused already the deaths of thousands denied essential assistance. Therefore her protestations of budgetary cruelty to innocents ring hollow. Sen. Collins ought to show courage against Trump or step aside."

• Ethan Strimling in Maine Beacon: "If Republicans had actually voted the opposite of Sen. Collins, 96% of Trump's agenda would have been stopped (the percent she actually votes with him)."

• Steven McDowell in the Portland Press Herald: "I never fully appreciated the importance of our freedoms of speech, the press, religion, assembly and due process - until now, when each of these are threatened by the orange man, who Collins so naively said years ago that she thought had "learned his lesson." [...] We need Republicans to resist this administration and fight for our country. Democracy is dying. Unless Collins stands up to this tyrant, her legacy will be just that.

See more: ICYMI: "Collins is a Regular Deciding Vote" on "Important Republican Policies" and Nominations [The Bulwark]

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