If the Republicans in congress were smart (They are not) they would demand Trump resign.

[shockey80]

Trump is crashing and burning. He has completely failed and he cannot fix it. Because of his damaged brain he cannot change. He will continue to make things worse. Things are going to get really ugly for Trump and the Republicans.

He will take down the entire Republican party with him, if they continue to support him.

The American people witnessed the Republicans in congress break their oath of office over and over again. They protected a criminal who was violating the constitution and the people know it. The people know Trump committed high crimes and should have been impeached and removed from office. Now the people are watching the Republicans protect a racist, a fool who tried to cover a pandemic. All of this will become part of the election.

The only way the Republicans can save their party from a complete ass kicking this November, the only way they can save face with the people is to do what was done with Nixon. They told Nixon to resign or they would impeach him.

Time is running out for the Republicans. The Titanic has hit the iceberg. It will sink.

[onecaliberal]

1. They'll go down with the titanic. If they try to steal the election it will drive ALL of us to the

Street. We will vote to throw them out but if it comes to it we will pry it back from their criminal hands.

[malaise]

2. They will go down while he puts on women's clothes

to try and escape.

Please let them proceed on their self destructive path to ignominy.

[exboyfil]

3. They are complicit

Have been from early on. They could have put guardrails on his behavior at the beginning, but they didn't. No you can't be your own landlord. No you can't spend travel budget dollars to your own corporate entity. No you can't have lobbyists and foreign officials pay dollars to your own corporate entity. No you can't have the RNC pay dollars to your own corporate entity (the last one isn't actually impeachable but I like to throw it in).

No you can't have Russians around when you discuss military secrets. No you can't do staged photographs with the nuclear football. No you can't plan military strikes sitting at a table at your club.

What burns me is that 45% of the voting public still seems to support him. I just can't understand it.

[leftieNanner]

5. Another One

No, you are required to respond to a lawful Congressional subpoena.

And Yes, you must turn over your taxes to the House Ways and Means Committee - because the law says you "shall".

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Pretty sure Moscow Mitch will not allow the Democrats police reform bill to come to a vote.

Oh well, that will help surely the Republican cause in November...

[leftieNanner]

6. Either he won't let it come up for a vote

Or he will tack on another huge tax cut for the wealthy.

[ScratchCat]

7. I'll keep telling anyone who will listen

They have already put John Kasic and Nikki Haley "on notice". Trump only wants to run again because of legal issues he would be facing otherwise(he never really wanted to be Prez anyway). At "worst", Haley replaces Pence and if Trump wins, he resigns for a pardon making Haley the first female POTUS.

[33taw]

8. I think Romney is trying to push him out before the convention.

[Jeebo]

9. Isn't that what happened in 1974?

Republicon elected officials went to Nixon and told him that he was going to be impeached, convicted and removed from office. That's when and why he resigned. Compare and contrast that with what happened a few months ago during the impeachment hearings and the impeachment itself.

These Republicons have sold their souls to the devil, I tell you.

-- Ron

[patphil]

10. I think it's too late for the Republicans to remove Trump.

They're pretty much in a damned if you do and damned if you don't position.
Removing him would incur the wrath of Trump's base, and tear the party apart.
Allowing Trump to fail this fall would probably also result in the loss of power in the Senate and would hand the reigns of power over to the Democrats.

The question the Republicans have to ask themselves is, are we better off with Trump, or without him. It's like a woman who feels trapped in a toxic marriage. There comes a time when a difficult decision has to be made.
Either sink with the ship, or man the lifeboats.

We are beginning to see signs that a lot of well-known and popular Republicans are stepping back from Trump and indicating they might support Biden. I think you'll see more of this as we move through the summer. It will be more widespread after the date where primary, or ballot challenges to Republican incumbents is no longer an issue.

I'd like to think that Republican Congressmen are smart enough to know that returning Trump to the White House will make them all subservient to him for the next 4 years, and possibly even beyond. If he is reelected, and actually leaves office after his second term, he will still hold the reigns of the Republican party and be able to dictate who runs for office at the Federal, and even State levels.

I don't think they want that.
The one thing the Republican Congressmen want most is to keep their jobs and hold onto their power. They might be willing to take a short term loss of power to cleanse the party from the Trump taint.
I think engineering Trump's defeat in the fall is their best bet. The backlash from removal would be too severe, and might result in an even bigger defeat in the fall.

The Republicans had their chance to dump Trump and chose not to. Now they've got him and all the foul smelling shit that comes with him.

Which ever course they take, it's going to be politically bloody. Are the Republicans up for it?

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. All this is common sense logical talk. Trump isn't either of those.

Trump is crazy, and in a way that is hard for most people to understand, because they think of "crazy"
as The Joker, or someone who sits in a corner babbling non-words.
Trump's crazy is living in a world where he has to be perfect, or at least where he can spin his constant fuckups as perfect. He sees the same world as we do, but it has a different meaning to him, with different rules.
One deeply held rule is he cannot be wrong, cannot be a loser. Worse thing in the world is to be seen as weak, not in control, not perfect.

He won't resign unless he is convinced it is a win.
I dunno if anyone in the Republican party other than Mitch is smart enough to figure out how to persuade him to win by resigning.

OTOH, his value as a useful tool to Putin might be getting shaky.....resigning isn't the only end option.
He could end up with a heart attack in a fall from the bunker window...or sump'tin.

[patphil]

13. That's true, but my discussion didn't include President Trump.

I fully agree, Trump isn't going to resign. I fully agree he is crazy.
I am also certain he will be the Republican nominee.

My discussion was speculation about whether or not certain Republicans would hold back on their support of him in November.
I believe there are a lot of long-term Republicans out there; office holders, former office holders, rich donors, etc. who are not looking favorably to another 4 years of Trump in the White House.
I believe there may be a walk back of a significant number of influential people in the Republican Party that will result in Trump losing in November. As things stand now, it's not going to take all that much.
The not-so-Trump old Republican guard will take the short term loss to flush him away and regain control of their party.
This is how I see it going down from their point of view.
We're already seeing that with people like General Mattis, and Colin Powell. I expect the trickle will become a steady stream if not an actual flood.
I believe a lot of Republican old guard are thinking that Biden is a better alternative. At least they can work with him.
Nobody can really work with Trump. It's his way or his way...nothing else matters to him.

[sprinkleeninow]

17. Good analysis, I feel. eom

[LiberalLovinLug]

12. They had the perfect chance to use the Ukraine action as their excuse.

Join with Romney and, even if they had to pretend for the camera, act all sorry and sad that they had NO choice but to remove him for his impeachable actions. Couched with how Trump was a great President until then, and did so many wonderful things despite the terrible treatment by the press, and maybe even throw in that if it were a Democrat, and the situation were reversed, Democrats wouldn't be as morally courageous as they are being etc etc

Then put up Romney, or another candidate who is relatively clean of baggage. Who could have taken them into November as some kind of "fresh start" for the Republican party. That they had learned their lesson, and will listen to the black community more, drop the idea of a new Wall on the southern border, end refuge family separation, etc etc.

Allies of ours like Rick Wilson, David Frum, Ana Navarro, and others of the Never Trumpers would quickly jump to the other side and be used by them.

In that way Trump could even make a deal with the party, that if he steps down, and they win, he will be protected from prosecution.

If it worked, and they kept all branches, Mitch and Lindsey could sit back and relax. No doubt Ginsborg and other SCOTUS judges would be replaced, and many more lower court judges appointed. And they could keep gutting the ACA, keep handing themselves even deeper tax cuts. Dismantle SS and other "commie" programs. They don't need Trump for that.

But no, they are not smart. Thankfully

[Brother Mythos]

14. Republicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place of their own making.

They anointed Turd as "The Chosen One Sent by God" early on. It's far too late for them to disavow him now. And, no amount of Turd polishing is going to help him, or them, very much between now and the election. The tide has already turned.

[DenverJared]

15. Too late. They missed a golden opportunity to remove him.

[Caliman73]

16. They are betting that the ignorance and fear of the general public will keep them in power.

Unfortunately, it is not a fool's bet.

We have a great many people who are not aware of and do not focus on government and public policy. in 2016 only 54% of eligible voters came out to choose the leaders and representatives of the country. While the 2018 midterms were a surprisingly higher turnout for a mid term, they were still low.

The current civil unrest has shown the dichotomy of thought in the population. The issue of "defunding" police to invest in community services to tackle social issues rather than having them handled by the criminal system has shown that involvement and understanding are not only limited within Republican circles.

People seem to not want to be inconvenienced. They want what they want but don't want to be put out to get those things.

Republicans, unfortunately, have been good at cheating, depressing the vote, angering their base, and winning with fewer actual people who support their policies.

People seem to want simple, catchy messages that make them feel comfortable. They want a savior, a perfect candidate. People do not seem to want Government of the people, for the people, and by the people. They seem to want things to be done for them to make their lives easier.

[lark]

18. Nope, they think that with voter suppression, the pandemic & Russia's help, they win.

They think they can close all the precincts in blue areas of red states, especially in the largest cities, stop mail in voting and purge everyone possible, strict voter signature matching and Russia hacking the election, plus tons of lies against Biden and covering the airwaves every second of every day with their lying advertisements - they will win. They plan to use the 500 billion to steal the race and it's already started. I must have seen Hair Furor's BS ad about the economy recovering at least 8 times yesterday here in N. FL. Fucking sickening.