Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, WMTW's recent "In The Arena" segment is detailing some of Susan Collins' vulnerabilities as she weighs running for reelection ranging from her record low poll numbers, to her failing to use her power and seniority to defend Maine, to the hypocrisy of her filing "hollow" complaints towards Trump administration cabinet secretaries she voted to confirm, like RFK Jr.

See the key moments:

• Panelist, Ethan Strimling: Donald Trump is basically going around Congress and passing these budgets and she's not using that seniority that you talk about in order to protect Maine. And I think that's really gonna hurt. There are tens of millions of dollars of funds that were supposed to come to Maine that didn't, through the budget process because Donald Trump went around them. Plus he's taking away all this funding that Congress had already appropriated so she's really losing her greatest strength there.

• Panelist, Ethan Strimling: But her greatest weakness has always been the fact that she says one thing and she does something else. That she claims she wants to be bipartisan but she votes with Donald Trump 97% of the time. That she says she's pro-choice and yet she puts Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. These are where people feel like all you say is "oh you're concerned about that" or "you're upset about it" - but when push comes to shove, does she actually stand up and say, "you know what, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop." Like the Big Beautiful Bill is a perfect example. [...] She could have stopped it. And then she votes against it when it's on the floor when her vote didn't matter. That's where she's trying to play both sides of the issues. I think that's why her poll numbers are so low and why she is actually more vulnerable than she's ever been.

• Host Pat Callaghan: As chair of the Appropriations Committee, it's one of the most powerful positions in Washington. Is she using that clout? Is she persuasive to others in whatever carrot or stick she can offer in getting them to see things her way?

• Panelist, Ethan Strimling: She's the most powerful appropriator in the United States government - the most powerful. And Richard Russell, when he chaired that committee, right, do you think that he ever would allow this kind of behavior to happen to his state? When you look back, Harry Reid, the folks who have chaired this committee, they didn't get pushed around, and she's letting it happen. I think that's going to be a huge vulnerability.

• Host Pat Callaghan: Senator Collins has also been critical of Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. The question is, does that ring hollow when she complains about his actions, when in fact she voted to support him and confirm him?

• Panelist, Ethan Strimling: Yeah, I mean this is exactly the issue, right? She puts these people in place. I understand she says she wants to give each administration their ability to put the cabinet they want, but there is a role for Congress around advice and consent. And if somebody is unqualified, as unqualified as Robert Kennedy Jr. is, and with an ideology that is putting Americans at risk, she should have voted no. It's pretty meaningless to Maine people who are fearful for their health that she's now saying, oh, that was, maybe not such a good idea.

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