You’re giving Trump too much power – stop doing that.
Trump has succeeded because he 63 million people willingly, eyes-wide-open bought what he was selling. (Hint: They wanted to buy it, and he knew that). He ran his unconventional campaign knowing all along that he would attract a following. Did he think he’d win the whole thing? Maybe not, but he knew that he had millions of followers all along: millions of people who didn’t value existing democratic and political norms.
Attributing power to Trump as though he has some sort of spell over people is missing the point and letting our nation of fools off the hook. It’s the person sitting next to you in a bar, the guy wearing the Cabela’s hat at that BBQ restaurant you like going to. Trump isn’t a magician; it’s those people who give Trump his power.
It’s also the billionaires who invest in propaganda campaigns that dumb down the population and who pay for people like McConnell to obstruct majorities and deconstruct institutions that were once trusted by people.
People like Trump succeed when they have support at the top and and from underneath. If you create tension and friction either at the top or underneath, then you weaken Trump. I don’t see Trump being weakened by divisions at the top until we see weakening and divisions from the grassroots - that happens when things get fucked up for them personally.
It doesn’t matter where and how Trump gets his power, he still has it. The GOP is in no position to give up any voters at all, what % do you think stays home on Trump’s say so? even 1 would be utterly catastrophic for them.
The electorate has been propagandized into believing that we live in a democracy and should live in a democracy.
Consequently, they elect yes-men because they hate the idea that some guy in a suit who talked to experts and read the Constitution might overrule their desires.
Yes-men say “yes”. There’s nothing more nor less to it.
The OP is imagining some GOP Senator lying awake at night fretting, “What to do? What to do?”
Really? REALLY? Not a chance.
They are in power, and winning. What have they got to be worried about? That some slim number of their voters are listening to reason from the Democrats? From ADAM SCHIFF? Snort. Tell me another one!.
They will vote party line on the Impeachment, and it’ll be over. Trump and McConnell will make sure they will keep getting the PAC money and they will all hold hands and skip merrily along into the shiny GOP/Trump future.
And we will come here and start another thread decrying the fall of man.
Trump is untouchable because the people who own US elections are happy with his policies. Their taxes have gone down, their companies are being freed from regulation, the courts are being packed with obedient judges, and the poor are getting poorer - which gives them a huge pool of cheap labor willing to work for just about any money.
Our current situation was made inevitable by the Citizen’s United decision, and if it hadn’t been Trump, it would have been somebody else.
With the rock solid rabids, its still kinda thin, the Republican candidate has to draw the money/business tighty righty. What are lately thought of as “moderates”. The thirty five percent is unshakeable, but still thirty five. Its like the halfback who can always get you five yards rushing. You need three, you get five, you need eight, you get five.
Other hand, now that they’ve sold to Trump, they gotta have them. With them. slim chance, without them, none.
I feel a twinge of sympathy. No, wait, that’s a chuckle…
I don’t feel this is completely true. I’m not disputing that big donors are getting what they paid for from Republicans. I just don’t feel that Trump is part of the plan.
Trump’s just looking out for Trump. He wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone but himself, including other millionaires.
If Trump is helping the plutocrats, it’s by staying out of the way while other Republicans are doing the actual work. At best, his antics serve to divert attention away from the quiet work being done by others.
But I think the plutocrats would prefer to have a better face on the party. Somebody who isn’t rocking the boat the way Trump is and threatening the whole system. The last thing the wealthy want to see is people getting motivated to change things.
It’s simple, and one of the Republican senators has been honest enough to spell it out instead of toeing the party line. I think he’s from Indiana, but I could be remembering incorrectly.
He said, basically, that there’s little to no chance that senators haven’t made up their minds yet, Democrat and Republican both. There’s little to no chance that anything anyone could say would change their minds, because their decision doesn’t have anything to do with evidence. Either they already believe that he did it, and it matters, that he did it and it doesn’t matter, or that he didn’t do it. He frankly said that his constituents don’t want a guilty vote, so he won’t give a guilty vote. Witnesses will only drag out the “trial” and the end result will be the same. It’s a waste of time.
I almost admire him for at least being honest instead of making a truth-pretzel out of FOX News conspiracy theories and flat out lies to pretend that it’s all just a hoax. Almost.
People don’t have to vote for a candidate from the Other Lot to do harm to a candidate from Their Lot who’s done something they object to. They just stay at home, and The Other Lot win at a canter (as happened in the UK in December - the Tories’ majority didn’t come from a massive increase in their vote, but from Labour losing 2 million votes).
Except that his job description is to do what he has sworn an oath to do, not to give the people what they want. It’s not Hollywood film production, it’s deliberation of legal, economic, and philosophical matters.
Romney can probably stay in the Senate as long as he wants but he’s 72 so he probably serves 2 terms at most. But it’s very unlikely he votes to convict Trump. He may vote for witnesses.
Absolutely. And part of the cult structure is that the laity will turn against any midlevel person who doesn’t sufficiently support the cult leader–or even against another member of the laity who doesn’t show sufficient support.
And one of the easiest ways to show support is to attack apostates.
The structure is really self-reinforcing, and it’s very hard to get someone out of the structure unscathed.
Republicans are mostly afraid of their increasingly minority status in the voting pool. They’re not stupid, they can read the demographics reports as well as Dems can. Unity is their only chance to defeat the numerically superior but far more disorganized Democrats. If that means a Trump in the White House for 12 more years, then that’s what they’ll work for.
What I’m interested in in regards to this is whether any of these current Republican senators are considering a presidential run in the next 10-20 years and whether this right now is some kind of “War with Iraq” moment which they can use to get political points later on.
“I was one of the few who voted to convict the criminal in chief in 2020 when our democracy/constitution were at stake”
I’m saying this because I feel like in a few years time the country may reflect on this moment differently and even the republicans will look at things more soberly.
Can you find any republican senators that hate gays, hate abortion, want to bomb brown people, are pro-business, pro tax cuts AND also support the impeachment and want Trump removed from office?
Because you risk having your name and reputation dragged through the mud on a national level. As soon as Trump says something bad about you, even if it’s not true, it’s going to be a soundbyte that’s going to get played over and over and over and talked about on every Fox program for the next day or two.
OTOH, stand with him and he can say good things about you, which will get plenty of airtime as well.
I would suggest that, much like anti-vaxxers who think that they are believing science, there are plenty of those on the right who think that they are soberly considering democracy/constitution right now, and coming to the complete opposite conclusion than you and I.
Only 11 States have passed their filing deadlines.
(2) They have the option of not voting.
The biggest problem with pissing off the MAGA crowd with a removal vote isn’t solely for the Senator involved… though that may be the case… but for the party as a whole. A lot of down-ballot races depend upon turnout, and if the MAGA crowd doesn’t turn out because they can’t vote for Trump, they’re also not voting for the Repub running for the 6th Circuit Court Judge or the Republican slate of aldermen, etc.
I think you’re slightly exaggerating things. I think large companies want consistency in taxation and regulations. They don’t want everything to zig zag all over the place with every change in Washington. It’s not like the Democrats are going to be in the wilderness forever. There’s a reason new coal plants aren’t springing up everywhere, that’s a substantial capital investment that could be undone with some votes in November.
Also, most of the large population states are blue or at least 50/50. If you’re going to do business in those states, you can expect more regulation at the state level.
I’m sure there are a few Republican senators who are thinking that - that since all it takes is 34 votes to ensure that Trump stays in office, that it means that 19 lucky Republicans can afford to defect and be perceived as “I voted against the war in Iraq”, so to speak, and still keep Trump as president. Having their cake and eating it too.