# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/901 "2019-09-27T17:01:18Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > They’ve got to get the drop on him, however. There won’t be another chance, even as Dems mount additional impeachment efforts with bank and tax fraud, emoluments, etc. If they allow those further impeachment efforts to go forward because they failed to remove Trump over the Ukraine criminality, it’s a constant, slow dribble of filth against them in the run-up to November 2020, and they’ll be stuck with Trump as a candidate. If they get rid of him now, there is still a chance they can mount a successful run with an alternative candidate. Republican consultant [Mike Murphy says a Republican senator told him that 30 Republican senators would vote for impeachment](https://www.newsweek.com/30-republicans-vote-impeach-trump-secret-1461389), if they could do so in secret. (I don’t know if that means they’d vote for removal, though). If true, then maybe they’re just waiting for something the public can easily grasp. A lot of their supporters are too ignorant to understand most of Trump’s corruption. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/902 "2019-09-27T17:07:47Z")
My new refrain? “But his phone calls…” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/903 "2019-09-27T17:08:57Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Republican consultant [Mike Murphy says a Republican senator told him that 30 Republican senators would vote for impeachment](https://www.newsweek.com/30-republicans-vote-impeach-trump-secret-1461389), if they could do so in secret. (I don’t know if that means they’d vote for removal, though). If true, then maybe they’re just waiting for something the public can easily grasp. A lot of their supporters are too ignorant to understand most of Trump’s corruption. Profiles in Courage, right there. Although, to be fair, they might not be worried only about being voted out. They might be worried about actual violence being directed against them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/904 "2019-09-27T17:08:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > [Tulsi Gabbard now supports impeachment](https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/1177624313584857090?s=20). > > Looks like this was too much, even for Russia! 😉 Good for Tulsi! I’m not a fan, but I’m still glad she’s on the right side of this. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/905 "2019-09-27T17:13:30Z")
Just gonna put this here: [NRA Was ‘Foreign Asset’ To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals](https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=nprnews) > [@](#): > > The National Rifle Association acted as a “foreign asset” for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. > > Drawing on contemporaneous emails and private interviews, an 18-month probe by the Senate Finance Committee’s Democratic staff found that the NRA underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin more than previously known — even though the two had declared their ties to the Kremlin. Read the report here: [Document Viewer : NPR](https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6432520-The-NRA-Russia-How-a-Tax-Exempt-Organization) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/906 "2019-09-27T17:18:21Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Republican consultant [Mike Murphy says a Republican senator told him that 30 Republican senators would vote for impeachment](https://www.newsweek.com/30-republicans-vote-impeach-trump-secret-1461389), if they could do so in secret. (I don’t know if that means they’d vote for removal, though). If true, then maybe they’re just waiting for something the public can easily grasp. A lot of their supporters are too ignorant to understand most of Trump’s corruption. I’m sure they would be happy if Trump just resigned. They get to keep a rubber-stamp president, can blame the Dems for forcing Trump out, and no longer have to wake up each morning wondering what kind of crazy behavior they have to make excuses for. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/907 "2019-09-27T17:18:45Z")
I am shocked, _shocked_ I tell you, to discover that the NRA leadership is made up of scumbags and traitors. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/908 "2019-09-27T17:20:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The people “shooting off the nukes” are pretty damn isolated from the rest of the world while on duty, and if they are told that the nukes they are in control of need to go out in a retaliatory strike they will turn the proper keys and push the proper buttons because they are trained to do so. The order does not go directly from the football to people in silos. It goes to the Pentagon then to the silos. Not a whole lot of diff but a small one ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/909 "2019-09-27T17:24:15Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Republican consultant [Mike Murphy says a Republican senator told him that 30 Republican senators would vote for impeachment](https://www.newsweek.com/30-republicans-vote-impeach-trump-secret-1461389), if they could do so in secret. (I don’t know if that means they’d vote for removal, though). If true, then maybe they’re just waiting for something the public can easily grasp. A lot of their supporters are too ignorant to understand most of Trump’s corruption. Great way to make the 12 Democrats left think that it would be safe to vote against impeachment. Just remember that he is a _Republican_ consultant, and take his words with a [grain of salt.](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NWAs4wpIL.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/910 "2019-09-27T17:24:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I am shocked, _shocked_ I tell you, to discover that the NRA leadership is made up of scumbags and traitors. Oh, I suppose then that their American flag lapel pins don’t count for anything? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/911 "2019-09-27T17:25:34Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > The order does not go directly from the football to people in silos. It goes to the Pentagon then to the silos. > > Not a whole lot of diff but a small one How do you know this? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/912 "2019-09-27T17:25:45Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Profiles in Courage, right there. Compare today’s Republicans to the chapter on Sen. Edmund G. Ross, “I Looked Into My Open Grave”. > [@](#): > > They might be worried about actual violence being directed against them. It only takes a crazy or two, hopped up on white-supremacist bullshit and in possession of the means to do it, sure, but that was true in 1868, too. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/913 "2019-09-27T17:25:51Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Republican consultant [Mike Murphy says a Republican senator told him that 30 Republican senators would vote for impeachment](https://www.newsweek.com/30-republicans-vote-impeach-trump-secret-1461389), if they could do so in secret. (I don’t know if that means they’d vote for removal, though). If true, then maybe they’re just waiting for something the public can easily grasp. A lot of their supporters are too ignorant to understand most of Trump’s corruption. Since the Senate can _only_ vote for removal (the House holds an impeachment vote, meaning brings the charges), I think it’s a safe bet that Murphy was referring to the removal part of the process (trial and either exoneration/conviction with removal) that is determined by the Senate. 🙂 I do understand the confusion, however, as many people use the word ‘impeachment’ to describe the entire process rather than the 2 components of impeachment and removal. Agree with **enalzi** they would prefer a resignation. I will make a bold prediction: That ain’t gonna happen. (I’d love to be wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/914 "2019-09-27T17:26:31Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > The order does not go directly from the football to people in silos. It goes to the Pentagon then to the silos. > > Not a whole lot of diff but a small one If we had a history of fanatical orders from the Prez being countermanded before reaching the ground troops I’d feel a bit better. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/915 "2019-09-27T17:30:14Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Agree with **enalzi** they would prefer a resignation. Of course. That lets them avoid actually doing something distasteful, \*while \*opening opportunities for portentous speechifying about the national interest and civic responsibility and did you notice how Bill Clinton _didn’t_ resign? etc. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/916 "2019-09-27T17:35:11Z")
On the previous page, there were moderator instructions to drop the nuclear launch protocol hijack. Just sayin ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/917 "2019-09-27T17:36:59Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > On the previous page, there were moderator instructions to drop the nuclear launch protocol hijack. Just sayin I didn’t see that. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/918 "2019-09-27T17:37:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When I stated that the guys at the end of that chain of command would push buttons, turn keys or (if flying, flip switches) when told to do so, it’s because I’ve seen the training they go through, the psychological testing they go through and the isolation they endure while on duty. They have no way of knowing the ultimate source of the commands they receive, and they certainly aren’t in any position to determine whether the orders they receive are legal or illegal. If the President does something untoward and those orders get to the people at the end of the line without being stopped somewhere else in the chain of command, those orders will be carried out. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > The order does not go directly from the football to people in silos. It goes to the Pentagon then to the silos. > > Not a whole lot of diff but a small one > [@Slash1972](#): > > How do you know this? > [@Czarcasm](#): > > If we had a history of fanatical orders from the Prez being countermanded before reaching the ground troops I’d feel a bit better. Please see [post #891.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21885128&postcount=891) This continues to be a fast moving thread, so I’ll reiterate the instructions there: > [@Bone](#): > > Everyone else, please drop this hijack regarding going rogue and nuking everyone that **RioRico** started (Welcome to the StraightDope!). This thread is about the impeachment inquiry and things related to that. > > [/moderating] [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/919 "2019-09-27T17:39:21Z")
Sorry-will comply. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/920 "2019-09-27T17:48:15Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Since the Senate can _only_ vote for removal (the House holds an impeachment vote, meaning brings the charges), I think it’s a safe bet that Murphy was referring to the removal part of the process (trial and either exoneration/conviction with removal) that is determined by the Senate. Of course, but because he said “impeachment,” I thought he might possibly have meant, “They would vote for impeachment if they were in the house.” It’s possible to have an impeachment but no referral to the Senate. If exoneration were a sure thing, then that might be a better course for Democrats. But if Trump’s actions become egregious and blatant enough, Republican senators not voting to convict could lose votes in Nov. 2020. The whole process is being held hostage by the uniformed and obtuse perceptions of this “base” which the Republican party has been cultivating over the last few decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=47)