The problem for the Republicans is that the only way they benefit from a Trump impeachment is if they do it. They need to rebrand themselves as the anti-Trump party. So the Republicans cannot afford to let the Democrats be the ones who impeach Trump. And the 2026 elections might change the balance in Congress.
So right now the Republicans are calculating. If they feel they’re going to be able to steal enough votes in 2026 to stay in power, they’ll let Trump stick around until 2028, when they can impeach him early in the year in order to get the full benefit by November. But if things are looking bad in 2026, Operation Dump Trump gets moved up.
The same is true if Trump’s physical and mental health continues to decline. The Republicans won’t benefit if Trump dies or is declared mentally incompetent. The only hope the Republicans have is if they impeach Trump. So they’ll move up the plan if it looks like Trump isn’t going to last until 2028.
Very much so, again, all I had was minor quibbles, thus the alternate scenario and my admission to lacking the internal information that may inform the GOP’s future calculus. It seems to me we’re all looking at the same variables, just not sure the current values today as opposed to say 6 months ago, and speculating what they’ll be in 2026/2028.
I think that’s better suited to the parent thread, if by Trump you assume the actual person, rather than the Republicans in general. But you’re not wrong, for something closer to home for our poster Frodo, it does work, as we say in Argentina.
“The loans to bail out your economy that we just gave? If Millei loses, they’re gone, capeesh?”</mafia capo>
And lo and behold, despite major protests and momentum due to the economic issues he created, his team suddenly was much more successful right after that announcement.
So yeah, I can see the GOP playing (more!) with the “You have some nice programs to feed/educate/protect your people, would be very bad if something were to happen to them…”.