Member-only story
Trump’s impeachment can still go forward
The Republican arguments are specious
With ten Republican votes in favor of impeachment in the House, Trump’s second impeachment became the most bipartisan impeachment in the history of the country. The Senate’s recent vote to allow an impeachment trial to go forward even though Trump is no longer in office was similarly bipartisan, with Senators Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) joining all 50 Democrats.
Of course, the response of the media and many activists has been one of disappointment. After all, the fact that 45 Republican senators voted to dismiss the impeachment case indicates that there may not be sufficient votes to convict Trump, so claim Republicans and the media. Maybe so. I was particularly disappointed, although not surprised, when the newly-appointed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted to dismiss the impeachment case. After all, he had previously indicated that he believed Trump’s conduct to be impeachable.
As time passes, however, Trump becomes less popular and less powerful even among the Republican diehards. The idea that five GOP Senators would vote to move the impeachment forward would have been unthinkable just months ago. As the Pew Research Center found in its final poll of the…
