It’s a bit startling to hear that Mitch McConnell is contemplating voting to impeach Trump but it really shouldn’t be. I’m sure Mitch was truly appalled by the Trump Insurrection last week. After all, Trump’s mob physically threatened him and trashed the building where he has spent his life working to make Americans miserable. Here’s what Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has to say about it:
For years, Trump has commanded fealty among his party. Fearful of a presidential tweet or a primary challenge — or worse — congressional Republicans have danced around addressing Trump’s worst impulses. The few who have deigned to criticize him forcefully often found themselves without a political base and bowed out of office. The party has occasionally rebuked him en masse, but generally on niche issues, including foreign policy, that wouldn’t necessarily animate such a backlash.
But we saw something different Tuesday: the emergence of what appears to be a genuine political effort to move the party beyond Trump and Trumpism. An attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, which even some top allies have attached to his rhetoric about a “stolen” election, has infused some Republicans with heretofore-unseen moral indignation and desire to turn the page.
Three House Republicans of varying stripes were the first to signal that Democrats’ looming impeachment this week would be a bipartisan affair. Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) comes from a difficult Upstate New York district. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) has been a frequent and increasingly vocal Trump critic. Likewise Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who injected some political heft into the effort as the No. 3-ranking House Republican.
Cheney’s decision was the biggest of those three, by virtue of her stature in the party and the fact that she comes from one of the most pro-Trump seats from the 2020 election. Wyoming gave Trump more than 70 percent of its vote just two months ago.AD
The number of GOP impeachment supporters in the House is still small — and seems likely to remain so — but what matters is the Senate, where their votes would be required and where members are more apt to take principled stands.
That’s why Cheney’s announcement wasn’t the most significant development Tuesday night. That distinction would belong to the signals emanating from the office of the top Republican in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
The Washington Post has confirmed that McConnell believes Trump probably committed impeachable offenses with his conduct before the siege of the Capitol. Mind you, McConnell hasn’t committed to voting against Trump, but the fact that he’s even considering it sent shock waves through Washington.
McConnell’s move could be understood a number of ways, including as a genuine matter of conviction. He played along for a time, but McConnell went out front among congressional Republicans in declaring the presidential election over, so it’s not like he’s a newcomer to denouncing Trump’s effort to overturn the election.AD
But even if that’s the case — and whatever you think of McConnell — he’s a skilled political operator. It’s difficult to view this as anything other than a calculated threat. Trump is staring down the barrel of becoming the first president in history to be impeached twice, and McConnell’s reported posture indicates he could also be the first to actually suffer a conviction vote in the Senate. That could mean an early removal from office or some kind of post-presidential sanction, but either way it would be a historic black mark on Trump’s legacy. McConnell seems to be leaving it up to Trump to decide whether he wants to go through all of that.
Whether that’s because McConnell truly intends to bring his party along with such an effort and try to get 67 votes in the Senate remains to be seen. Perhaps he’s truly hedging his bets. Perhaps he’s wielding this to prevent Trump from doing something even more drastic in his final days in office. We still don’t have McConnell on the record, so we’re left to read between the lines.
But it’s clearly a power play. Reports indicate McConnell views this as a chance to move the party beyond Trump and the long shadow he could cast over it in the years to come. But Trump could just as easily try to call a bluff.
Of course it’s a power play. I’m sorry to say that the sad, cynical truth is that Trump facilitated McConnell’s agenda but now he’s done and no longer of use to him, particularly since he screwed the pooch on the Georgia election. McConnell has always known that going forward, the Trump cult is a problem.
As for Cheney, she’s got presidential ambitions and she made the bet a while back that the smart move was to be an anti-Trump, right wing hawk. I’ve always wondered why more of these people didn’t see the upside to taking that position. Nobody but Cheney, and maybe Sasse to a certain degree, were willing to take the other side of the bet that Trump would flame out. That has always surprised me. Wouldn’t you think there was at least a 50-50 chance of that?
Anyway, I think there is a sincere feeling that Trump is a maniac after what he did last week and continues to do today. But there is also political calculation. Trump is a loser, he screwed up Georgia and now he is on the run from corporate America. If any of them really want to be rid of him, now is their opportunity.