This. America would change forever if Nancy let this clear violation pass. What we have to do is make sure the Republicans suffer for their betrayal of America.
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This is not a court trial. It is sui generisāof its own nature. As has been said over and over, impeachment is political.
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Two weeks would be plenty of time to show the evidence to anyone willing to open his or her eyes.
Remember, the prosecution will be by the Houseāthe Democrats. If the Republicans do nothing but obstruct, the country will be able to see that. The challenge will be making things clear. Given that they are pretty simple, that should be possible.
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NOPE!
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Yep, make it absolutely clear that you donāt want to listen to any evidence at all before voting on a party line. Drive the last few honest registered republicans out of the party.
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Yeah. Heās been strangely silent for a few days.
He has no shot at heaven although heād give St. Peter a good laugh.
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For purposes of analysis of what a senate trial will be like involves 3 groups of Republican Senators.
The first group is very small and may only be Susan Collins. She is hurt by Trump regardless. That is Trump being at the head of the 2020 ticket makes it less likely she will win reelection. In her case, and maybe a few others, the political expedient action may actually be to vote for removal or at least insist on a real trial.
The second group, consisting of Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and about 20 others, do not need Trump to hold office but need Trump to remain in the majority. That is without Trumpās base of racists and others who vote against their own best economic and other interests and created group 3, these senators would remain in the senate but in the minority and have diminished or no real power. But with Trump acting if not becoming a dictator, they must ask, what real power they have with Trump.
The third, largest and most diverse group, includes everyone from Cory Gardner to Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell who need Trumpās base of racists and their ilk to even hold office. That is several, like Gardner may lose anyway but without Trump have no chance of holding office.
In my view the 2nd group is the group to watch, those that will hold office regardless of Trump and his base. Collins and others who might be helped in their elections by voting to impeach Trump could still lose regardless. As Paul Krugman pointed out today, the reason ALL Republican, including all those leaving in the House are sticking with Trump over impeachment is they all want employment after leaving and between FOX and other extremist Rightwing āthink tanksā that actually pay more and require much less effort than elected office, so long as they stick with Trump they will almost certainly get an easy life after leaving office.
But those 20 senators who are not looking for a golden parachute and in seats they will likely hold for as long as they want, have little personally to gain from choosing the constitution over Trump. If the Republican dam or damned, is to break, it will be from these senators.
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His attorneys probably have a dump client and keep retainer clause in their contract upon the first unapproved utterance.
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This is the Trump/Giuliani way, more properly credited to Al Capone (who also hates Trump).
And do the Republicans understand that anybody who supports Trump (including his voters, since you can cut the data down to the precinct level) are going to be severely damaged? Do they also understand that insider tell-all books are extremely lucrative?
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Even without removal, the label āIMPEACHEDā needs to be on his term for historical significance.
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The sad legacy of the current crop of congressional Republicans will be their willingness to co-conspire with their corrupt, ethically-bankrupt Supreme Leader at all costs.
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Well, God is a secret Kenyan, socialist, Muslim. And Trump clearly would have the biggest, brightest and bestest wings, evah. And Satan? If youāre listening, where ARE St. Peterās emails??
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I know that Republicans in the majority will be able to change rules on the fly as they see fit, but how much control over the āprosecutorā do they really have? Wouldnāt the āprosecutorā continue until he runs out of witnesses? Iām not really seeing a pathway for them to limit the length of the trial. Plus you have Roberts overseeing the whole thing as well. He would have to abide by any rule changes they make, but isnāt he ruling on things like admisability, etc.?
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Yesterday it was all āwe got thisā Moscow Mitch and Trump are best of buds and the fix is in. Had many here clutching their pearls. Now they are back to scattershot, no one knows what they are doing. The fear Trump is projecting is starting to wilt even the Fox talking heads who canāt get the orange stain off the phone. Keep up the good work, boys. 
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I believe your math is wrong on the first group, both that is bigger than Collins, and that she has any chance of winning by voting for his removal.
The reality is, I donāt think any republican up for re-election, can win by voting for Trumpās removal. They math is pretty simple, which has them between a rock and a hard placeā¦they canāt win with just Trump supporters and they canāt win without Trump supporters. The caveat to that statement however is, they certainly cannot win if Trump turns the entire election into a grievance campaign about how badly he is being treated, which he certainly would do.
The problem with your second grouping, is people like Romney and Murkowski, are not running for office in 2020, so they do have a bit more leeway in their vote than people like Gardner, Collins, McSally, etc.
They have a Senate Majority to gain. And that aināt nothing. Particularly when eyeing a Democratic President moving into the WH in January 2021.
IMO, its actually going to come down to republicans running for re-election in 2020, and it IS going to be difficult to convince them to vote to remove. Because of the above math. If you are Collins, McSally, Gardner, Ernst, Perdueā¦and a few others, you want Trump to resign and avoid the trial altogether.
There is of course the possibility that gets brought up that the Senate could change the rules and make it a secret ballot. I find that an extremely unlikely scenario. McConnell is crafty enough to see that there isnāt a good outcome for him or his party if that happenedā¦if Trump IS removed that way, EVERY republican will be accused of voting against him by the Trump supporters (and McConnell himself would be hung out to dry for making the change). If pressured into considering such a change, look for McConnell to poison the vote by inserting other changes that will never pass, thus insuring the whole thing fails.
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I am extremely skeptical of these time lines of the House being done and passing it over to the Senate in January. Pelosi is giving ZERO indication of that, and is actually floating the idea that it could go on well past January.
My own personal belief is still to look for sometime in March for the House to vote and give it to the Senate. It could possibly be even later.
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That will happen. Particularly if republicans try and do a short trial and quickly vote to acquit.
Thatās their dilemma right now. They know they ARE going to acquit, but they know its going to cost them dearly. Their path out of this quagmire is pretty clear, too. Get Trump to resign ahead of a trial.
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No. They came dangerously close to getting away with it. Trump actually sees Biden as his most likely opponent, or at least, the one that would give him the most trouble. But it also pretty likely that they are busily trying to manufacture dirt on everyone they consider having a credible chance of winning the Dem nomination. We just havenāt found out yet.
Yeah, Biden is making mistakes. He has been making mistakes since he declared. But no one is coming close to challenging him with Black voters. And with the front loaded primary schedule this year, the timeline for that shift to happen is getting smaller.
Biden becomes even more worrisome as a nominee, if Trump does resign.
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The impeachment hearings seem to have been well planned. They had weeks of confidential testimony, and used that to prep the public hearings. It is hard to find fault with how they sequenced the public witnesses. It is a bit surprising how much the Republicans seemed to be surprised by what came out. Their defense was reduced to yelling conspiracy theories at the witnesses.
That doesnāt get any votes in the Senate. It also doesnāt mean that the Democrats have shown all their cards. This will go to a trial, at which point we will see how Democrats approach a truly hostile (but stupid) witness like Mulvaney, and wild card Bolton. Limiting it to two weeks will look bad, it will look like GOP is shutting it down in the face of a bad result. Dismissing it on its face would play better in Deploria, but there are a few Senators who arenāt that shameless.
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