The Distinct Shame of Senate Republicans

[babylonsister]

Older article but worth a read...

The Distinct Shame of Senate Republicans
Think about what Republican senators must have known when they voted not to convict Trump during the second impeachment.
by A.B. Stoddard
August 4, 2022 5:30 am


snip//

But there were other men in the Upper Chamber who dirtied their hands for Trump without any fantasies of a presidential campaign dancing in their heads. They sat at the leadership table or thought they were poster boys for the Constitution and they likely looked down on Cruz and Hawley running their pre-campaigns on Fox News and Twitter.

Lindsey Graham had also pressured Georgia election officials. Chuck Grassley suggested he could step in for Pence on the 6th, telling reporters the night before: “Well, first of all, I will be—if the vice president isn’t there and we don’t expect him to be there, I will be presiding over the Senate.” Mike Lee texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to “please tell me what I should be saying,” and worked to get Sidney Powell in to see Trump. Ron Johnson’s chief of staff tried to arrange for an envelope of fake electors to be given to Pence on January 6th but was rebuffed. Johnson, Grassley and Graham have all chaired powerful Senate committees, on variously Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Judiciary and the Budget.

If we subtract those nine ambitious (or seditious) men, that still leaves 34 possible Republicans who could have joined the seven voting with Democrats to convict Trump. Like Richard Burr and Pat Toomey—who voted to convict—Rob Portman, Richard Shelby, and Roy Blunt are retiring and had no reelection campaigns to protect. And there are plenty of other Senators, safe in red-state seats, who must have known even more than what the House impeachment managers presented at the trial. Among those 34 surely ten of them could have helped bar Trump from future office by providing the votes to reach the required 67 supermajority for conviction.

Senate Republicans’ refusal to convict Trump for insurrection has not only invited future crises, but has permanently disemboweled impeachment as a constitutional mechanism. If the attempt to overturn democracy isn’t a convictable offense, then literally nothing is. We no longer have a workable mechanism for removing corrupt, wicked, or dangerous chief executives. And with that deterrence gone, we should expect more corruption, wickedness, and danger from future presidents.

more...

https://www.thebulwark.com/the-distinct-shame-of-senate-republicans/

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R

[Mister Ed]

2. "Someday Trump will be gone, but your dishonor will remain." - Liz Cheney

That should be the slogan constantly repeated by present and future election opponents of these Republican senators.

[Lonestarblue]

5. Most of these Senators never had any honor to start with. They certainly have no integrity.

[liberalla]

3. K&R

Definitely worth a read.

[GoCubsGo]

4. They all know that Trump loves to collect kompromat.

And, they all know he has it on them. They weren't just protecting Trump, they were covering their own asses. It's why they're all falling in line behind him over the stolen documents, too.

[Botany]

6. They never had any shame to begin with

They took Russian/NRA money in 2016, visited Putin's Russia on July 4th 2018, and
voted to let Trump off for trying to blackmail Zelenskky/Ukraine into making up dirt
on the Bidens and worked to help Putin take over the Ukraine.

[mwb970]

7. Future REPUBLICAN presidents.

fify

[Hekate]

8. "Disemboweled" is a good word for it

[justhanginon]

9. The republican side of the senate has become nothing more than a private trump

owned whorehouse. This country has suffered greatly because of it and unfortunately still will well into the future.

[IbogaProject]

10. 2nd impeachment needed even fewer to disqualify

We needed just a few, even just the ones who show voted in the first one. 51 votes would have been enough to constitutionally bar him from all federal office, both elected and appoonted. Especially no campaign fundraising.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. Every single one of them knows better

They know Trump wants to end our Democracy. Not a one puts America before their own lust for power.

[jaxexpat]

12. We could, as well, expect the overturning of our democracy as a foregone matter.

Of course, that was inevitable when corporations were allowed voice as if they were people. The Citizens United was the death knell of any reasonable world order. Trump and the "open sewer/running canker" which is the Republican party are merely blips on a screen plotting the end-times of a species cluelessly sailing along on a planet summarily rejecting them.

[Duppers]

14. Boom!! Excellent Points!

"...a species cluelessly sailing along on a planet summarily rejecting them."

Too many Dems also refuse to recognize this.

[czarjak]

13. A.B. built this.

[Missn-Hitch]

15. ".....wickedness, and danger from future presidents." ???????

Correction:

...wickedness, and danger from future GOP presidents.

Better.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

16. This Bulwark article is not only a great read,

it is also a scathing judgment of the cowardice and callousness of the Senate Republicans.

Before today, I had never heard of the Bulwark website. Now I want to read more articles. babylonsister, thank you for posting this article.

The paragraph in italics is chilling- we no longer seem to have a way to discipline and remove a truly bad president.

[kentuck]

17. If their voters were informed...

...they would no longer exist as a Party. They would be disqualified for incompetence and corruption.

[live love laugh]

18. "... expect more corruption, wickedness, and danger from future presidents"

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