Wheels turning
The single article of impeachment against Donald Trump will on Monday evening be delivered to the Senate, where the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is promising a quick but fair trial.
Trump made it easy for them, by standing up there and ordering the crowd to march on Congress.
Pelosi is going to take the article from the House to the Senate later today, and that’s the start of the impeachment, but then they’re pausing for two weeks to get a lot of urgent work done and give the lawyers time to prep.
Though the Senate is now controlled by Democrats, two-thirds of senators must vote against Trump if he is to be convicted. That means 17 Republicans must go against a former president from their own party. As of Friday, according to a tally by the Washington Post, 42 senators had said they supported impeachment, 19 were open to conviction, 28 were opposed and 11 had made no indication.
Dozens of influential Republicans are said to be lobbying senators to convict. McConnell has said the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, leading to the deaths of five people including a police officer, were “fed lies” by Trump.
If Trump is convicted, senators could also vote to ban him from ever holding public office again. That only requires a majority vote.
Here’s hoping.
When will the butterflies start turning, too?
The gop must know that convicting Trump would ultimately be good for the party (not to mention the presidential aspirations of people like Cruz and Hawley and Rubio), but individually they’re mostly too scared to take action. Still, one pattern that’s emerged in the past few years is that retiring or retired goppers are more willing to speak out; in that regard, it’s interesting to see that Portman of Ohio announced today that he won’t seek reelection in 2022. Perhaps another vote for conviction.