President Joe Biden said on Monday that the forthcoming impeachment trail for his predecessor, Donald Trump has to go forward in remarks that appeared to push back on efforts from some Republicans to shrug accountability and sweep Trump’s wrongdoing under the rug.
Nice balance struck. Other things need to happen too but this is a constitutional responsibility.
My concern is with Republican Senators.
Will they defend our Constitution or will follow my Rep, Scott Perry?
Tea Party Perry serves Kool-Aid not tea.
Freedom Caucus Perry serves fascism not freedom.
Biden leads by watering down expectations in saying that he doubts the Senate will convict. This is “turn the page” agenda setting.
At least Biden is realistic in acknowledging it’s doubtful 17 Republican Senators will vote to convict.
And I doubt the trial will do much. Trump is gone. We all pretty much know what happened. He fired up a crowd of supporters. Interest from the public will be muted.
Well done.
Conviction will rely solely on McConnell’s discretion. My less-than certain intuition is that it is possible.
McConnell was dead-red against it a year ago and stated as much well in advance. That he’s signaled it as ‘possible’ in discrete fashion in this interim since January 6th? Leads me to believe he’s been doing so to fade the heat in advance of a conviction he’ll muster R votes ‘for’-- at the last minute.
If only.
It’s obvious that McConnell wants Trump out of the Republican party. I believe he also, even more so, would like to see Trump barred from ever holding public office. If that doesn’t happen, he remains an enormous threat to the GOP and their lpresidential hopes for 2024.
But I still have no idea what McConnell is going to do. He’s as inscrutable as ever.
How rich is McConnell? Maybe he is blackmailing Trump for a payoff–much stranger things have happened.
McConnell only has a couple or three more 2-year election cycles left in him. Can’t see him wanting it to be dominated by a possible return of TMFWSNBN. He also (I think) knows the GOP’s only chance at relevancy short-term is to actually uphold the Constitution (this time).
TMFWSNBN has offered himself up on a platter. McConnell rarely misses a chance to strike.
Messaging flip: To promote “unity”, Republicans should tell Trump to plead guilty to impeachment, accept lifetime ban from office.
“The mother fucker who shall not be named”?
But Biden can stay above the fray during the Senate trial. He doesn’t say anything about conviction. What the trial will do is highlight, in the face of irrefutable evidence, that many of the GOP Senators are on Trump’s side in the interest of keeping their minions in line. Look at Arizona and the other States that have censured party leadership. Look at the numbers of GOP voters that have left the party.
These Senators don’t know whether to fish or cut bait, but at the end of the trial, their opinions WILL be known. I can wait for the trial. I already know how that will play out. What I cannot predict with any confidence is whether the GOP Senators, who were threatened and victimized just as much as the Dems and the House members were, will find their nerve to do the right thing and convict.
It is accepting reality, as @bonvivant notes in the comment after yours. He knows these folks better than anyone, having worked in the Senate for decades and then again as VP under Obama.
I think we will all be shocked if 17 or more cross the line. I can see McC convincing 16 of them to move to convict, but that won’t get the conviction over the line.
Even without conviction, it’s really important to publicly document what Trump’s actions did in the trial. These senators need to be on record with their votes. Even those that argue that Trump’s words did not incite violence (not that anyone on TPM would agree to that), it can be shown and must be shown that he did not act to stop the violent mob from proceeding even with all of his powers as president.
McConnell has two delectable choices: either convict Trump and split the party in two right now, or acquit and twist in the wind while Trump’s loyalists destroy the party from the grass roots. This should be fun!
Exactly why there should NOT be a secret ballot on Trump’s conviction
Trump tried to ruin our democracy and was impeached by the House. Now he must face trial in the Senate. That is all.
Thanks!
… and to counter that, Democrats can quote the innumerable insurrectionists who claimed that “Donald told me to do it.”