I have a theory, or wishful thinking, that Republicans may be willing to support this impeachment

[tclambert]

effort, because it focuses on what Trump did all by his lonesome self. Other Republicans may avoid complicity or charges of aiding and abetting by saying, "Oh, this was Trump by himself. No one else involved."

If they can get him out without scores of other conspirators going away, they may feel more like taking advantage of the opportunity to lose the embarrassment to their party while they save themselves.

Now, on the other hand, several Republicans are starting the effort to obstruct justice once again to protect the criminal-in-chief. But if the impeachment inquiry focuses tightly on the criminal phone call, no staffers and no members of Congress were directly involved. Maybe nobody else has to go prison.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. He wasn't alone, he had help

But if he becomes a liability, they will dump him

[regnaD kciN]

6. If it was only about him "becoming a liability"...

...they'd have dumped him after he fired Comey.

I'm pretty sure most Congressional Republicans would like nothing more than to get rid of Trump and hand the reins to someone more of "their kind" in President Pence. But they also know that Trumpistas hold the power in the Republican primaries. If any of them dares take action against Mad King Donald, it won't matter how "safe" their seat will be, because they'll be knocked out in the primary by a MAGAt-endorsed extremist. The reality is that breaking with Trump is unthinkable to them, because they're terrified of "his base."

[RockRaven]

2. Trump knows this too, which is why he *immediately* implicated Pence.

Trump is going to do everything he can to make every Repuke in DC remember that they have a mutually-assured-destruction/suicide pact.

[Meadowoak]

3. They will dump him and it's going to be soon. He will be too much

Of a liability for them next year. They will turn on him in a heartbeat to save their own asses.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

4. I Have Hope That They'll Turn On Him

However, I predicted that every Republican up for re-election in 2018 would turn on him as well. I thought they'd see being tied to Trump was resulting in their poll numbers going into the tank and they'd all start distancing themselves from him. That didn't happen. To this day, I have no idea why they continue to support this guy to the detriment of their country AND their own party. It truly doesn't make any sense, especially when you figure that by getting rid of him, they could get "one of their own," a conservative's conservative, Mike Pence, into power. All I can figure is that they're SO afraid of Trump and his teeny-tiny base of cult followers that they just go along. Again, it makes no sense to me, because Trump's base of fanatic lapdogs is only like 20% of the country. It's TINY. So why are they all so afraid of him?

What really gives me hope is the idea that they'll see just how bad this whistleblower complaint is, and even though they would love to ignore it, they'll know that their constituents WON'T, and they'll vote to convict just to keep their jobs. I'm also very encouraged by what Jeff Flake said (that he knows 30-35 Senate Republicans who would vote against Trump if the vote were secret, but they're too afraid of him to do it in an open forum). Is there any way we can request that the final vote in the Senate be done by secret ballot?

[Generic Other]

5. Not that I want to give the GOP any advice

but if I was one of them based on having suffered a traumatic brain injury, I would tell them to get rid of Trump now when they can still run a viable candidate in 2020.

They do have an understudy in the wings, don't they? Ivanka does not count.

[NCLefty]

7. I think they CAN turn on him. We just need another big log or 2 on the fire.