Looking for a Conscience From House Republicans? Not Today.

[Zorro]

This morning, there seemed hope that a respectable number of GOPers might see the need to hold Trump to account. Until they started opening their mouths.

By Matt Lewis

It’s probably apocryphal, but Winston Churchill supposedly once said, “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” In recent years, I’ve had a similar, but opposite, insight about Republicans: They always fold like a cheap suit, after getting your hopes up.

My hopes were raised on Tuesday when it was reported that Mitch McConnell was in favor of impeachment and that Liz Cheney would vote for it. But I suspect they are about to be dashed. The McConnell-Cheney news was likely meant to show momentum. But the dam never broke. The impeachment resolution is expected to get, what, 10 or 15 House Republicans?

When push comes to shove, very few Republicans are willing to do the right thing. Even newly-elected Rep. Nancy Mace, who has been talking tough about Trump and her party’s lawlessness, is suddenly saying “there is violence on both sides of the aisle” and that “what we’re doing today, rushing this impeachment in an hour or two-hour-long debate on the floor of this chamber and bypassing Judiciary, poses great questions about the constitutionality of this process.”

Let’s start with her false equivalence. Yes, we should condemn violence whether it comes from the left or the right, but there is something qualitatively different about it when a) the president orders it, and b) the violence takes place inside the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop or slow the peaceful transfer of power. But even putting that aside, the most recent attack—the one that happened last Wednesday, in the same building Mace was standing in when she said those words—deserves our focus.

Regarding the process argument that says this impeachment is being “rushed,” well, there’s always an argument that provides cover and serves as an “out” for Republicans to avoid punishing Trump. One year ago, during the first impeachment, the most compelling argument was probably that an election was imminent and that the American public should get to adjudicate.

One year later, it’s pretty predictable that the opposite argument will be made: “There’s not enough time, and/or it doesn’t matter, since Trump is leaving in a few days.” The arguments change, but it hardly matters. They are all retrofitted to achieve the goal of making sure that Trump is never held accountable for anything.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/looking-for-a-conscience-from-house-republicans-not-today

[czarjak]

1. Any means necessary...