Fading Republican support for Trump impeachment

On-the-record test for support for conviction on impeachment charges that Trump incited his supporters to mount an insurrection at the US Capitol 45 out of 50 Senate Republicans voted to consider stopping the trial even before it starts.

After the vote, Rand Paul, who pushed for the dismissal, crowed that the impeachment article delivered by the House on Monday was “dead on arrival”. It would take 17 Republican senators breaking ranks and voting alongside the 50 Democrats to convict the ex-president who left Washington DC almost a week ago,  with a subsequent up-or-down vote, to prevent him from ever running for federal office again.

Tuesday’s vote shows there are definitely only five who even want to consider the evidence – Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey. The rest contend that Presidents can’t face impeachment trials once they have left office.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said in a statement “ My vote today to dismiss the article of impeachment is based on the fact that impeachment was designed to remove an officeholder from public office. The constitution does not give Congress the power to impeach a private citizen”.

Lindsey Graham one of the president’s closest allies in the Senate said the president’s actions “were the problem” and that his legacy was “ tarnished”.

Given the apparent disposition of the Republican senators, Democrats’ only strategy may be to make an acquittal vote, even if it is a fait accompli, as uncomfortable as possible. They will hope that history and American voters are willing to assign guilt even if the Senate isn’t.