Huffington Post is reporting that there is this Republican memo that states the following:
The Republican leadership issued a memo Saturday clarifying that the Senate must take action if the House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. The statement came in response to concerns that the Senate could simply refuse to hold a trial.
“There is no way we could somehow bar the doors and prevent the managers from presenting the articles to the Senate,” stated the memo, which was obtained by HuffPost. “The rules of impeachment are clear on this point.”
But for those of us who have been awake for the last several years, there is always the Moscow Mitch Constant: as long as Moscow Mitch is Senate Majority Leader, Senate rules are for Democrats and chumps. And even Tiger Beat understands the Moscow Mitch Constant.
Sure, it would be an unprecedented move in U.S. history for Republican leader Mitch McConnell to table Trump impeachment proceedings without allowing any significant debate or a vote to convict a president from his own party, thereby removing him from office. But it’d be well within his power.
Conventional wisdom still says there has to be a Trump trial. McConnell, after all, said in March that the Senate would have “no choice” but to hold one if the House voted for impeachment.
But political conditions can change quickly in the Trump era. And lawmakers from both parties say they wouldn’t be surprised if the Kentucky Republican ultimately made the same calculation he did in 2016 when President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court — only for the Democratic president to see his pick axed by McConnell under the auspices of letting voters decide who should fill the vacancy in the next election.
And there are Republicans who are already saying that it is too close to the election for impeachment; therefore, we must let the voters decide this issue. Nevermind that Moscow Mitch allowed the Russians to intefere in the 2016 Election. And Moscow Mitch doesn’t want to upgrade election security for the upcoming election. And the whole underlying cause of the impeachment of Trump is that Trump is trying to obtain foreign assistance in the upcoming election.
No, we need to let the voters decide this issue in an election where Republicans are going to obtain help from the Russians and God knows who else. AGAIN.
No, the safe bet is there will be no Senate trial for Trump. And that is to be expected. Democrats can argue that no Senate trial is the same as a vote for acquital for Trump. Republicans are traitors should be the message for next year.
That kind of message might even hit Moscow Mitch where he lives.