Washington's 2020 & ICE déjà vu

In today’s edition of “The Inner Circle with Rachael Bade”: Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, Benny Johnson, John Lewis, John Thune, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, Tammy Duckworth, Neera Tanden, Susan Collins, Troy Jackson, Graham Platner.

For a brief moment after Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM died suddenly Saturday night, Washington and social media were awash in bipartisan tributes to the South Carolina Republican — a rare moment of appreciation for one of D.C.’s beloved lions of the Senate.

Three days later, that camaraderie is giving way to partisan sniping, as a pair of old flashpoints resurface in the news.

🗓️DÉJÀ VU, PART ONE — A new report from a conservative Hill outlet suggests President DONALD TRUMP is about to declare that Georgia’s two Democratic senators, JON OSSOFF and RAPHAEL WARNOCK, are “illegitimate” because they were fraudulently elected. Conservative influencers quickly elevated the Washington Reporter story, which saw more than 12 million interactions by lunchtime. Prominent right-wing voices like BENNY JOHNSON insisted “this could be massive.”

Since then, senior administration officials have signaled Trump won’t use his scheduled Thursday night primetime address to focus on those two senators specifically — but he does intend to unveil newly declassified information about attempts by foreign nationals to interfere in the 2020 election, per Axios. That would bring Trump’s “stolen election” claims back to the fore, just months before the midterms.

UNSURPRISINGLY, DEMOCRATS are holding this up as proof the president is laying groundwork to contest the midterms if he loses.

• Ossoff jumped on the news right away, writing on X that “the failed president … is afraid to lose the midterms. So he will reheat debunked election conspiracy theories and tell bizarre new lies to deny his 2020 defeat and attack voting rights.”

• Warnock echoed him, posting: “Donald Trump is at war with our democracy and Georgia is ground zero. But this is JOHN LEWIS’ Georgia. We are not intimidated. We are not moved.”

WHILE THE GOP BASE eats this stuff up, elected Republicans won’t exactly be thrilled with the new narrative. I joked this morning on our show The Huddle that I can picture Senate Majority Leader JOHN THUNE ducking under his desk over reporter questions about whether two of his Senate colleagues are “illegitimate.” This isn’t a talking point GOP lawmakers are eager to echo, given that swing voters care far more about prices and affordability than unsubstantiated 2020 election fraud claims that dozens of courts tossed.

What’s more, Republicans in Congress firmly believe that the only reason they ended up with two Democrats in once-red Georgia is because Trump’s own “stolen election” claims depressed GOP turnout in the 2020 runoff.

My co-host SEAN SPICER acknowledged today that this could represent a stumble for the GOP in one sense, even as he’s been a big backer of the SAVE America Act:

“We had them on the ropes. We’re talking about socialism, the rise of the Democratic Socialists,” Sean said. “And we’re going to take that issue and now talk about something else. No, stay focused.”

Sure enough, DAN TURRENTINE, our Democratic co-host, all but welcomed the news, arguing that elevating this fight couldn’t be a better way to change the subject from MAMDANI & Co.

“What is the number one thing over and over and over again in polls? Gas prices, inflation and the economy… You veer into the 2020 election? I can’t think of a dumber thing to do politically. Do you think SUSAN COLLINS wants to talk about this?”

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🧊DÉJÀ VU, PART TWO — Meanwhile, news that ICE agents on Monday killed an immigrant here on a valid work permit, is reviving the deportation debate in a state where Republicans would very much prefer to talk about anything else.

Blue Maine.

On Monday, JOAN SEBASTIAN GUERRERO, a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant, was shot and killed in Biddeford — by some reports, in front of his three-year-old — after he was mistaken for an illegal alien authorities were trying to arrest. DHS said Guerrero attempted to flee. An eyewitness told the Portland Press Herald that Guerrero told agents as he was dying: “I tried to stop.”

Making a messy situation messier: The agents weren’t wearing body cameras — something voters overwhelmingly demand and both parties actually support.

It’s not unfair to point out that, despite securing almost all of their demands for ICE reforms earlier this year, Democrats walked away from the table knowing full well Republicans would take the brunt of the political blowback of a failed agreement. But the party is unsurprisingly seizing on the news to hammer Republicans up in 2026.

• Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH of Illinois argued on X that “Republicans spent this year blocking all attempts to add real, commonsense guardrails on DHS. Now two people have been killed by ICE in less than a week.”

• NEERA TANDEN, president of the Center for American Progress, is calling on voters to “make some noise against GOP senators who just voted against any restrictions on ICE,” ticking off several Republicans up for reelection this fall.

• And on the ground, protesters stormed Collins’ office — with TROY JACKSON, one Democrat vying to replace GRAHAM PLATNER on the ballot, right alongside them.

THE STEPBACK — Immigration dominated the headlines earlier this year, as voters who once trusted Republicans on the issue soured on Trump’s deportation policies. These latest killings drag the issue right back to the center of the conversation, a boon for Democrats — particularly in Maine, where the party is desperately trying to pick up the pieces from Platner’s implosion.

The Biddeford shooting comes just days after ICE agents shot and killed another Mexican immigrant during a traffic stop in Texas — another critical state where Democrats are trying to make inroads with Hispanic voters to flip a seat.

Dan sees a clear political through-line:

“This gives the Democratic Party — which doesn’t even have a candidate yet — the chance to put Collins on defense. To explain…. Why haven’t you held hearings? You’re a committee chair. What have you done?... She wants to be talking about how she brought money home to redo the high school and Graham Platner’s mess. And that’s not this.”

Sean isn’t sugarcoating it either:

“I largely agree with Dan’s analysis on this,” he said. “Collins had been riding a high. She got to talk about what she does, what she brings home for Maine, her record, the accomplishments — and Graham Platner did a great job of talking about why he wasn’t a Nazi. Suddenly, now, she has to defend a policy on the right.”

🎥🔥 TODAY’S WATCH — Catch our fuller conversation on these topics and as well as the latest with Iran, on today’s The Huddle. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel. Or listen to our show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.