The Orrin Hatch era in the U.S. Senate will soon be coming to an end.
Tuesday the 83-year-old senator from Utah announced he would not seek reelection at the end of his term that has spanned four decades making him currently the longest-serving Republican in the Senate.
The decision according to Hatch comes after discussions with his family over the Holiday’s which if he’s honest with himself and everyone else it probably wasn’t just his age that had him coming to the ultimate decision to hang up his hat now.
The notions around his decreasing popularity very well could have played a part in Hatch’s decision.
According to Splinter News who cites an editorial from The Salt Lake Tribune, Hatch is referred to as a politician who has an “utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power”. Also the SLT made mention of the elder statesman doing his best job to keep qualified replacements out of the picture.
Over the years, Hatch stared down a generation or two of highly qualified political leaders who were fully qualified to take his place, Hatch is now moving to run for another term — it would be his eighth — in the Senate. Once again, Hatch has moved to freeze the field to make it nigh unto impossible for any number of would-be senators to so much as mount a credible challenge. That’s not only not fair to all of those who were passed over. It is basically a theft from the Utah electorate.
Other than that, good ol’ Hatch will further spare himself from explaining to the voters of Utah why he essentially became a lap dog for Donald Trump in his quest to shrink two public parks, pass a regressive tax bill that’ll undoubtedly help the wealthy in the long run while putting faith in the failed notion of trickle down economics while letting the children’s health insurance program (CHIP) expire
Hatch’s departure also opens the door for the return of Mitt Romney to public life who may already be calling on print shops in Salt Lake to get those campaign signs ready. Nonetheless Romney is a member of the GOP who is no friend of Donald Trump which I’m sure has the White House in a further tizzy over the thought of Hatch retiring and Romney gaining the seat.
I can almost spell out the Twitter bitching from No. 45 now.