Trump begged Orrin Hatch to run again. The senator retired anyway.

Hatch will be around to kiss Trumps butt for another year.


Trump begged Orrin Hatch to run again. The senator retired anyway.


http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/orrin-hatch-donald-trump-analysis/index.html
Chris Cillizza



Updated 4:24 PM ET, Tue January 2, 2018
Trump asks Hatch to keep serving in Senate



Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump made one thing very clear over the last few months: He badly wanted Utah Republican Orrin Hatch to run for another Senate term.

At an event in Utah in December, Trump said this of Hatch:
"You are a true fighter, Orrin. And I have to say, I've gotten to know him very well. I've gotten to know a lot of people very well. You meet fighters and you meet people that you thought were fighters but they're not so good at fighting. He's a fighter. We hope you will continue to serve your state and your country in the Senate for a very long time to come."
Hatch traveled to and from that Utah event with Trump on Air Force One.

At the bill signing event on Trump's tax cut legislation just days before Christmas, Trump called the Utah Republican "the great Chairman Orrin Hatch," adding: "Great job, Orrin. Wow. Orrin is a special person."..............................



But it is still worth noting that the Republican President of the United States spent much of the last year urging a prominent Republican senator to run for re-election -- and it didn't work.


That's especially important because it's long been suspected -- and reporting bears this out -- that one of the reasons Trump was so gung-ho for Hatch to run again was that he did not want an open seat situation where two-time presidential candidate Mitt Romney could run...............................