Mitch McConnell Gives GOP Senators The Freedom To Convict Trump In Impeachment Trial
In a slight surprise, news reports are indicating that Republican senators will have the go ahead from their leader , Mitch McConnell, to use their conscience to decide the guilt , or not, of Donald Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial.
If this turns out to be the case, Trump may be in trouble. There has been considerable speculation that Trump would need McConnell's thumb on the scale to keep the Republican senators in line.
McConnell may want to rid himself of Trump long in advance of the 2022 midterms when McConnell will try to maneuver his party into position to retake control of the Senate.
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https://www.al.com/politics/2021/01/a-vote-of-conscience-mcconnell-sets-stage-for-trump-impeachment-trial.html
For Republican senators, the trial will be a perhaps final test of their loyalty to the defeated president and his legions of supporters in their states back home. It will force a further re-evaluation of their relationship with Trump, who lost not only the White House but majority control of the Senate, as they recall their own experiences sheltering at the Capitol as a pro-Trump mob ransacked the building.
“These men weren’t drunks who got rowdy — they were terrorists attacking this country’s constitutionally-mandated transfer of power,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a statement Friday.
“They failed, but they came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis. They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
McConnell, who has spent the past days talking to senators and donors, is telling them the decision on whether or not to convict Trump is theirs alone. His stance, first reported by Business Insider, means the GOP leadership team will not work to hold senators in line one way or the other.
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Hard to see this as good news for trump.
There is a little fly in the ointment to all of that. I'm sure there are Senators who are outraged over last week and would like the GOP to return to purely Conservative values. There might actually be more than the required 17 Republican Senators needed to convict, but Schumer will take such a conviction and then immediately call for a simple majority vote on banning Donald Trump from ever running for office again. That's the thing that would give Republican Senators pause. Such a stipulation would confirm all the suspicions of the America First Movement and it could cost a Senator his/her career.
There is also of course the entire idea of using a mechanism provided by the Founders to remove a President against what in three days will be a private citizen.
None of it is good.
What is NOT GOOD is that apparently GOP Senators need McConnell's permission to vote their belief. Spineless snowflakes.
= unamerican cowards
It is astonishing that you think Trump should run for president again and that people should vote for him.
Yesterday a video was released that shows a couple dozen "protesters" in the Senate chamber rifling through senators papers, photographing documents off the senators desks, and bowing their heads in prayer to whatever god they think would listen to them. Do you think this scene makes it more or less likely that Republicans will man up and vote for impeachment? I'd say more.
No, John, I never said that. I simply explained the political consequences of Republicans following Schumer's lead.
Yesterday a video was released that shows a couple dozen "protesters" in the Senate chamber rifling through senators papers, photographing documents off the senators desks, and bowing their heads in prayer to whatever god they think would listen to them.
I saw such a story on CNN.
Do you think this scene makes it more or less likely that Republicans will man up and vote for impeachment?
I believe I already answered. I'm sure there are GOP Senators who want to impeach, but what will stop them is that little extra thing that Schumer has that will follow a conviction - the motion that Trump can never run again, which will only require a majority vote.
The devil is in the details.
Why are you denying that you want Trump to run again and think that people should vote for him?
I don't expect you to pay attention to everything I say, but you may recall my story on the tragic hero?
Let me say it again: Nobody thanked Ethan Edwards for bringing Debbie home. He was a brutal man in many ways, but he knew how to deal with the Comanches, who slaughtered his family. He fought fire with fire. Some thought he would kill Debbie because as he said "she had been living with a buck' , but he got her back safe & sound. After that it was his time to ride away.
Thus it is for Donald Trump. I don't want him back. I want someone new and well polished to lead the movement/the working class.
I'm waiting.
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Another make-believe tough guy.
I have seen most of John Wayne movies that he made from 1940 on (the earlier ones arent worth watching). I read a biography of John Wayne years back.
I can say with absolute surety that the John Wayne character (the iconic hero figure) would not have supported the assault on the Capitol building, and I seriously doubt that he would have supported Donald Trump period. Trump is more like the villain in a John Wayne movie than one of the good guys. Think Nathan Burdette or Bart Jason.
Then you are missing the point. It's about the story "The Searchers." It involved a character that was hard for anyone to like but who got the dirty job done. We can use examples from real life as well. General Patton was one of the most effective US commanders of WWII, but once the war was over people really didn't want him around. Donald Trump achieved many of the things I wanted done. His character was a huge target for the left. He is radioactive now for Republicans. I thank him not only for what he accomplished, but for the voice he gave to millions of Americans who had been leaderless and voiceless for decades. Obviously, he must exit the stage and I'm hoping for a more acceptable replacement to pick up where he left off.
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Could we have won the Civil War without Gen Sherman?
How about Air Force General Curtis LeMay? What did he do in WWII and Korea? Did he really wipe out 20% of the Korean population and incinerate thousands of Chinese soldiers that China will never admit to?
Was that what was needed?
That is the question!
I assume you prefer John McCain and Mitt Romney to confront the hope that benefited those who didn't need it or the change which never reached those who did? The left plays hard and they play for keeps. I will be glad to accept the man/woman who looks & sounds nice and has the inner strength to do what needs to be done. Whoever that person is the media will viciously attack them regardless of character.
You have Liz Cheney.
But that can't happen-- unless Trump is impeached!
If he's not impeached, in all probability he will run again-- thereby denying other s in the party of being able to run for president.
However he is impeached.. then the fieeld is wide open...and other Republicans can run...
(A bit of a dilemma for Republicans who would like to run...and other Republicans who would like someone else other than Trump-- but who don't entirely like the idea of impeaching Trump [finding him guilty as charged]).
I can say with absolute surety that the John Wayne character (the iconic hero figure) would not have supported the assault on the Capitol building, and I seriously doubt that he would have supported Donald Trump period. Trump is more like the villain in a John Wayne movie than one of the good guys.
Correct on both counts!
(John Wayne would hardly have supported a vilent attempt to overthrow the results of a legitimate Election!!!)
He would need to be impeached and convicted but I suspect that is what you meant.
Key here is that the R party should realize that they need to eject Trump and find a new icon. He is a poisonous parasite on the party.
Impeached, convicted and then prohibited from office. You need both votes.
However he is impeached.. then the fieeld is wide open...and other Republicans can run...
Oh, I see, progressives are doing all of this to help Republicans run.
(A bit of a dilemma for Republicans who would like to run.
Actually, no. I'm expecting certain Republicans to run in 2024 despite anything Trump does. I'm sure that Nikki Haley is all in. There has to be others.
Why on Gods Green Earth would anyone who just watched the shit show in the Capitol want Trump to be able to run for any public office?
Gods Green Earth produces both rational and irrational minds. Often this can be corrected with feedback. However the stubbornly irrational minds are a lost cause.
I am surprised at how many stubbornly irrational minds there are.
News flash--Trump has been impeached for the second time. How could you miss that?
So he is like the guy that you pay to do your dirty work, then hopefully you can distance yourself far enough away so as not to get caught when the heavies come for him.
Now I understand a lot better. Liars who have no compunction with throwing anyone who becomes a liability under the bus. No honor there. Even amongst thieves.
I tend to think it's more irrational than not.
There only seems to be more and more everyday.
That’s the whole point. The establishment wants to clear the decks for one of their own in 2024 and going along with the democrats to get Trump out of the way does that. There are an awful lot of GOP senators up for re election in 2022 though and even though the GOP might be favored in a Biden midterm election, the primaries are a different matter. We will primary every GOP Senator that year who votes that way.
You are but one individual with, it would seem, no power to lead so you have no way to speak for others.
Delusions of grandeur, eh?
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, Shame on me.
And of course... "...I'll get on my knees and pray.... We don't get fooled again"
I don't trust Mitch McConnell.
I trust Turtle Man about as far as I can spit, which is only down my chin.
Me neither, but he has never liked Trump. He only tolerated him to push his own agenda. Convicting Trump and banning him from ever holding office again would serve a lot of goals on both sides.
I don't see the needed 17/18 Republican Senators voting for impeachment...Most are too worried about picking up the Trump voters to vote for impeachment.
Ya got that right.
Most of them aren't know for having a backbone.
The Dems don't have a credible impeachable case......again!
Is that what "People" are saying?
Just curious--did you ever vote for any Democrats who failed to convict Clinton, or is that something you only hold Republicans to?
Well, lots of words to not answer the question asked.
Guess that tends to happen when people not asked attempt to answer for someone else.
Oh, I would never go that far.
Not all of your posts are like that.
“It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”
― Ronald Reagan
“No. No. I’m listening. It just takes me a minute to process that much stupid all at once.”
—Sheldon (Big Bang Theory)
I disagree. If Trump is impeached by the Senate and then banned from holding any remotely influential position for life, that solves a lot of problems for a lot of people on both sides. Not to mention we haven heard shit out of him since Twitter banned him (fucking sad since he is supposedly the president). If the GOP makes this happen I think he will mostly be gone for good. He loses his megaphones and he has nothing. Not to mention he is about to be in legal and financial hell for being a shitty person and an even worse businessman.
2-4-6 years is a long time in politics.
I would like to see that happen because if he is impeached, found guilty then they can vote on banning him for life from political office plus a few other choice penalties but I just don't see the spineless senators voting to impeach than to have a primary challenge in 2 to 4 years.
I hope that I'm wrong.
So do I. When his [deleted] base no longer really hears from him they will just wander aimlessly. A threat sure, but not organized or coalesced around a central focus, and thus not nearly as dangerous. When that is the case the [deleted] GOP will be able to start pretending to have principles and morals again.
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Most are too worried about picking up the Trump voters to vote for impeachment.
True.
And there's another reason-- many are afraid that if they do, there might be personal violent attacks on their family!
GOP members want to impeach but "fear for their lives."
Republican leaders are expecting about 10 to 20 House Republicans to vote for impeachment but sources tell CNN there are many more members who "want to vote to impeach but they legitimately fear for their lives and their families’ lives."
"Liz Cheney, these Republicans who have announced , they are showing courage at the same time as I have been told by Republican sources that members, Republican members, have said they are not going to vote for impeachment because they are still scared of Donald Trump."
"I was told that the White House is continuing to pressure these members, that Trump has not stopped and that members, quote, 'fear for their lives and for their families' lives,'" she continued.
"After what we saw on January 6th, a week later, that says a lot that the White House is still pressuring people."
This indicates one of the critical problems with how our system has devolved along partisan lines.
Each senator (and congressperson in general) should have the freedom to make their own decisions on behalf of their constituents under every circumstance. It is extremely bad for our system when leadership has the power to determine how representatives of the people vote.
EXACTLY!