Quite a few are repeating the "fact" that, since 67 votes are necessary to impeach,

[Atticus]

even if we pick up 2 or 3 Senate seats in November---plus take the House---we can't impeach Trump.

If our Blue Wave materializes---and I believe it will---and we pick up 35, 40 or more House seats, pick up ANY Senate seats, most of the governorships and state House seats in play, does anyone really believe the GOP Senate contingent will not put their fingers in the wind, as they always do, and try to get "on the right side of history"?

I understand some will be implicated in all sorts of skullduggery and will go down swinging, but I think we'll be able to finesse enough votes to flush Trump.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. Best case scenario.

Best case scenario- We have 52 senate seats in the 116th Congress; we hold all our vulnerable seats and pick up AZ, TN, and NV.

Please name the fifteen Deplorable, i.e Republican senators who will vote to remove Trump from office.


Thank you in advance.


I'm one of the most optimistic guys on this board but I believe the only way to get Trump out of office is to defeat him at the ballot box.

[Atticus]

7. I don't say you are necessarily wrong. I am just not yet willing to concede you are right.

As for "naming" GOP Senators who might flip, I don't have the time to make a meaningful response. Also, we don't yet know which ones will have just squeaked through reelection and which will be seeking reelectionin a state that we have just "swept".

Thanks for your thoughtful response.

[Hortensis]

25. Impeachment by simple majority will happen

only when BIPARTISAN agreement that it is necessary develops, even if we get control of the house in November. Bipartisan probably requires something like a third of Republican and right-leaning independent voters to join the left. Then, if Trump is not persuaded to resign, he will be tried in the senate. If found guilty by 2/3 of the senate, he will be removed.

In any case, imo there's absolutely no point to trying to count numbers or name names of specific senators now. Removal will happen when bipartisan electoral support grows to a point that enables this huge step.

Trump's treasonous behaviors and the Mueller investigation both seem to be moving us inexorably to that point. Putin could throw a hammer into the machinery, such as a big cyber attack, or delay by big terrorist attack could happen, California finally falling off into the ocean would be a distraction, or tampering with the elections could leave congress under Republican control, but short of some disaster bigger than what's happening right now...

[Drahthaardogs]

27. I think there is another...

If we win the House and the Senate, we unleash Hell and drag his sorry ass through the media. We shut down his agenda and drag him and his children through the mud.

GOP brand suffers more. Insiders will pressure him to resign for "health reasons"

[bettyellen]

41. Yep, because we can finally issue subpoenas and control the investigation. That's what we need.

[Gothmog]

53. Resignation is possible but we we not be able to impeach and remove

[Drahthaardogs]

59. Rather not.

Let's cripple the fucker and make the GOP drag his sorry ass into the 2020 elections. Kill the GOP once and for all.

[Norbert]

44. Maybe we can take a page out of McConnells notebook

Make it a simple Senate majority to impeach. I'm being facetious though. Don't want it to happen as it would be a mess.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. To change the requirements for impeachment and removal would require a Constitutional amendment.

[Gothmog]

54. I doubt that we can get five much less 15 to flip

[beachbum bob]

2. impeach is a SIMPLE majority vote in the house and that can be done, don't confuse with removal

from office, which is done in the Senate

[exboyfil]

4. A loss in the impeachment trial is

likely to make the President even stronger. It happened with Johnson and Clinton. You are going to have to demonstrate how Trump's criminality and malfeasance actually impacts individuals. Right now we have moved to the point with a critical number of US citizens that actually thank Russia for helping get Trump elected. They don't care.

[beachbum bob]

13. clinton had excellent approval numbers before, during and after his "impeachment" and trial

I highly doubt trump will ever be above the low 40s and could see 30% and below. The actual issue will be how many GOP senators want to defend a sub 30% president with obvious criminal AND impeachable crimes??

[genxlib]

3. I'm one of those people

Sorry to disappoint you.

Forgive me if I am cynical about finding 15-18 GOP Senators willing to do the right thing.

Based on what we know, I don't believe they will. If Mueller comes up with more, perhaps. But the only Senators who have even suggested discomfort so far are all retiring.

[Downtown Hound]

5. That's actually fine by me.

Let's win Congress, open hearings, let Mueller finish his investigation, and let Trump run for reelection while he's either under indictment or exposed for the traitor and criminal that he is. Let's hang it around the GOP's neck that they'll have to explain to the American people why they are protecting a traitor and a criminal during an election year. I forsee not only a certain presidential victory no matter who we run but I forsee massive gains in the legislature, possibly even a filibuster proof super majority.

[EffieBlack]

20. This

Spending precious, limited time and resources on impeachment is foolish.

We need to focus exactly as you describe.

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Agreed

[Atticus]

57. When I consider all that Trump has ruined in his first year and a half and the

bridges he has burned that took decades to construct, I just don't know if we can give him another 30 months and expect to have a country left that we recognize and that is capable of restoration within our children's lifetimes.

[Downtown Hound]

60. When we take Congress we can mitigate that

And look, if Germany and Japan can rebuild after almost being completely destroyed after World War 2 and go on the become Democratic Socialist economic superpowers, then we can sure as hell survive Trump and do the same thing. Trump sucks, and sucks hard, but he's not going to be the death of us.

[Atticus]

61. I sincerely hope you are right. nt

[oberliner]

6. The House of Representatives impeaches the POTUS, not the Senate

[marylandblue]

9. I gamed this out once

If Democrats lose no Senate seats and pickup 3, plus win big in the House, the Republican will be scared. Then add all the Republicans who could be vulnerable in 2020 or have expressed some discomfort with Trump, and it's possible to get to 67. Possible, but not likely, everything would have to break our way.

[beachbum bob]

14. won't matter by 2020 as trump will never be re-elected

[JaneQPublic]

33. With Putin's help...

...he could grab another term.

I used to say Trump could never be elected. It's looking more and more likely he wasn't, but he landed in the White House anyway.

The same could happen in 2020.

[EffieBlack]

35. Lots of people thought he'd never be elected in the first place

Complacency of the "that will never happen" variety is a dangerous thing ...

[AlexSFCA]

58. it is harder to get electrd fot the firts time than getting reelected

[beachbum bob]

63. democrats are smarter this time and allow themselves to be split by a jill stein candidate

trump has no chance

[Jim__]

10. Im hoping that Mueller's report will cover Trump with a strong stench of shit.

So strong that no one will stand anywhere near him.

[world wide wally]

11. What about indictment?

[fallout87]

19. Not going to happen.

The vehicle for removing a president in impeachment.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. The backdrop to Watergate was a nasty recession.

If Nixon had a good economy , loyalists, and FOX he might have been able to weather the storm.

[Atticus]

15. True. And Trump could start bombing Iran as a "patriotic" distraction. I'm just not yet

in the "keep our powder dry" camp. I can't argue with your facts. I'm just saying we may have different facts in 2019 and impeachment should remain on the table.

One last comment about impeachment: it is currently legally justified and it is the right---i.e., moral--thing to do. That should count for something.

[beachbum bob]

16. The Vietnam war and the debacle years under Nixon led to his

Undoing way more than the economy. More American kids were killed while Nixon searched for peace with honor than before he took office.

[Hoyt]

23. Good point. Lots of solid GOPers wanted that war over before their kids were drafted.

[NYC Liberal]

17. Zero Republican Senators will vote to convict a Republican president.

I’d doubt you’d get any more than one or two Republicans in the House to vote for impeachment.

[roamer65]

49. If Dump loses them the majority in both houses, all bets are off.

It will soften them toward compromise and I think they may just turn on him for revenge.

The knives will come out for real in the Repuke party.

[NYC Liberal]

52. Highly doubt it. They will double down.

[fallout87]

18. Then we get President

Pence... Just to keep things in perspective.

[EffieBlack]

21. For 10 years.

No thank you.

[roamer65]

50. Dense would be voted out in 2020.

He would also be way easier to campaign against. He doesn’t have cult folllowing like Dump.

Reason he took the VP slot was that his poll numbers for re-election as Governor of IN were awful.

[EffieBlack]

56. Maybe, maybe not

I'm not willing to take that chance

[FreepFryer]

22. The future's not ours to see...

https://m.

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. When/if Mueller issues a report with incontrovertible evidence of impeachable offences...

they'll have no choice. Especially if the votes to impeach are there in the House.

[Bettie]

26. To remove him we'd need to find principled Republicans

which no longer exist.

They do as they are told. Every. Time.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. A simple majority is necessary to impeach, 2/3 is needed to convict.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. If Dems gain the House, Impeachment should proceed regardless of the Senate

That will only put the GOP on record for support the crimes and corruption of the Trump administration, which will be aired in detail during house impeachment proceedings.

Regardless of the risks, impeachment is the Right Thing To Do. If they don't at least attempt to impeach Trump, then the bar for impeachment gets raised even higher for future despots.

[EffieBlack]

37. Impeachment to make a point isn't the right thing. It's a waste of time

That might make some of us feel better but does nothing to improve the lives of the people who desperately need help.

If they want to make a point, they should censure him - which has the same effect as impeachment without removal AND can get the votes - and then move heaven and earth to block him at every turn, thwart his agenda, and weaken him so that he cannot win in 2020.

But impeachment is a waste of time and is politically dumb.

[Fiendish Thingy]

45. I disagree

Just as it would have been The Right Thing To Do to prosecute the banksters and the war criminals of the Bush administration, Impeachment hearings, successful or not, are essential to preserving democracy and the Constitution.

Holding impeachment hearings on the very real crimes of the Trump administration would raise awareness of 1) Trump's crimes, and the unspinnable evidence proving them, likely damaging his chances at reelection, 2) the position of GOP legislators in supporting the criminal in the White House , likely damaging their chances at reelection, and 3) that Democrats will take a firm, unswerving stance at protecting this country from the cancerous toddler in White House.

[LonePirate]

31. The Republicans in the Senate will never vote to impeach. They will not even speak out against him.

[dsc]

32. I think it is more likely he would quit than be removed

that said, I don't think either is all that likely. One thing the GOP has proven, it is unwilling to throw this man overboard. Unless Trump's base shrinks to being below half a GOP primary vote, the GOP won't stand up to him. I don't see that happening.

[ooky]

34. My hope is we focus on achieving our most important goals

1. Is that we win either the House or the Senate to prevent any more bad Republican legislation from being passed with 51 votes.

2. Winning the Senate would be extra good, so we can block both republican legislation and their judicial appointments.

3. Whichever chamber we have the majority get our priority legislation on the table and position ourselves to take back the WH and both chambers in 2020.

4. Come out of the gate in 2021 to reverse as much of the bad GOP laws with 51 votes of our own, starting with rescinding the tax cuts for the rich.

These are all things I see as realistic. In fact, We appear to have a great opportunity of winning at least one chamber if we don't do things to hurt ourselves, such as, campaign on impeachment. A conviction in the Senate, on the other hand, in this political climate IMHO, is little more than a wet dream, and I fear that any discussion of it only motivates their voters and works against our chances. So I hope we avoid this topic altogether and let Trump/Republicans keep on being their own undoing.

[EffieBlack]

38. Thank you

[Fiendish Thingy]

46. I don't think impeachment should be a campaign issue

But once the Dems take back the house, impeachment must be "on the table" or we risk raising the threshold for impeachment for future despotic presidents.

Even if impeachment fails, Dems must take a stand and say that Trump has crossed the line, and Dems will not tolerate it.

[Garrett78]

36. I expect the Mueller investigation to take years.

Far less complicated investigations have taken much, much longer than this current investigation has taken so far.

[roamer65]

39. Impeachment will be easy.

A simple majority in the House.

Removal in the Senate will be much tougher. 67 to remove.

By then we will know a lot more about Dump’s crimes. So the grand compromise may end up being removal of Dump and letting Pence be the placeholder until 2020.

If the midterms are an utter ass kicking for the GOP, the Senate rethugs are going to be much more amenable to throwing Dump overboard. Pence will be severely restricted if the House and Senate flip in November.

[Iggo]

40. Impeachment or not, we need those seats.

Need 'em even more if there's no impeachment.

[bitterross]

42. Stop Counting Chickens That Haven't Hatched.

We did that in 2016 and look where that got us. I believe it depressed voter turnout and we paid the price.

[ReformedGOPer]

43. When Bill Clinton was impeached in the house, it was then turned over to

the Senate, where every one knew the motion would die. I remember various commentators saying things like-The Senate is too classy to remove a president for a blow job, etc.

So the GOP put us through 2-3 years of bullshit to bring down Clinton. But when it finally died, Clinton was too damaged to really affect any more policy. He was a lame duck. If that's Trump's fate I'd be okay with it.

[0rganism]

47. 2 amazingly fun things happen if we retake house & senate majorities

and neither of them are impeachment

1. congressional committees can start issuing subpoenas for things other than Hillary's emails

2. Agent Orange has a much harder time getting his judicial nominees approved

not impeachment, but quite helpful in getting there eventually

[lastlib]

51. GOPee Senators get PAID (well!) NOT to put their fingers to the wind.....

When you're wholly-owned subsidiaries of Billionaires, Inc., you keep your hands down and do what you are paid--er, TOLD--to do!

[Mz Pip]

55. Impeachment is just the trial.

It takes 67 Yay votes to convict.

[wryter2000]

62. I don't believe any of the Republicans will do the right thing

They only care about the opinions of the people who vote for them.

[kentuck]

64. Republicans should lead in the impeachment charge.

They should separate themselves from this immoral wanderlust.

[Orsino]

65. Won't happen until he becomes an immediate danger to those with a say in the process...

...or to the billionaires bankrolling those same Congresscritters.