Democrats control the House and have no interest in passing any serious legislation. As a result, the power of Republicans in the Senate is limited to basically two major things on the domestic front: confirm federal judges and serve as a dead end to anything stupid that comes from the House.
“Anything stupid” should include attempts to impeach President Trump over a phone call to a foreign leader about a legitimate corruption concern. But as is so often the case, some Senate Republicans are already shaking at the knees because Democrats and liberals in the media are giving them a dirty look.
The Washington Post on Wednesday evening reported that “cracks have begun to emerge with GOP lawmakers privately discussing Trump’s conduct and their party’s political standing.”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who remains about as useful for Republicans today as he was on Nov. 7, 2012, is leading the charge for Democrats who want to see the GOP break apart.
Other wobbly Republicans are so far only wetting their pants in private, no doubt dreading what Joe Scarborough might say about them from his home studio in Florida.
To repeat, House Democrats are ready to impeach a president because he asked the leader of Ukraine to check into a potential case of corruption. Yes, it concerns Joe Biden, who happens to be running for the Democratic nomination for an election that is more than a year from now. But why should his status as a Democratic presidential candidate grant him immunity from a corruption investigation?
It doesn’t. And yet, rather than train their eyes on that very important fact, some Senate Republicans, like Romney, are fretting over Trump’s phone call because they’re scared Dana Milbank might write one of his notoriously biting columns, dubbing them “foolish clowns” or something really clever like that.
For any Republican out there thinking to himself, “So what? Two or three Republicans who would vote to convict the president in an impeachment trial still wouldn’t result in removal,” you’re missing the point.
Democrats don’t have to actually remove Trump from office for their impeachment to succeed. In fact, they’re counting on being unable to remove Trump. Their entire goal is to create an embarrassing Senate trial. If even one or two Republicans openly criticize the president, they can call it “bipartisan,” and it will be very useful for them heading into 2020.
