Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is feeling the squeeze as she navigates a series of political landmines that put her at odds with President Trump and many of her own colleagues.

Collins this summer voted "no" on two of Trump's biggest priorities: the GOP's mammoth tax and spending bill and a measure to claw back money Congress had already appropriated. She also opposed several of the president’s high-profile Cabinet nominees.

Her vote on the rescissions measure only complicated her next difficult task: shepherding government funding legislation to Trump's desk as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee — her longtime dream job that she finally secured earlier this year.

And hovering in the background is next year's midterms, when she is expected to seek a sixth term in a seat Democrats are eyeing as a key pickup opportunity.

“Give me one senator who would trade her position,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a top ally of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and an Appropriations panel member.

He answered his own question: “None.”

Collins has long been a one-of-one member in the conference, as the foremost centrist from a blue state that GOP leadership has had to juggle as part of a membership that has trended more MAGA throughout the years.

But while that balance has always been........

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