"The Charbor Chronicles": The Reason Republican Senators Are Not Open to Impeaching Trump? Cowardice.

The evidence against President Trump really is overwhelming, and that despite the fact that the White House held back as much evidence and documentation as they could.

How do we know that the White House held back? Well, because Trump boasted about doing so. Of course he did.

Still, it is clear that what Trump did was wrong. No, not merely wrong, actually. Criminally wrong. A clear abuse of power. And coming as it did literally one day after the Mueller investigation ended, it also showed a clear willingness – even enthusiastic energy – to engage in more abuse of his power, because he feels emboldened. When he gets away with something, as he has done time and time and time again, the lesson that this miserable excuse for a man, and even poorer excuse for a so-called leader, gets is to push the envelope even further. To see how much more he can get away with.

It is all based on his loyal following, which is approximately 35 percent of the population, who will support this man regardless of whatever stupid or even criminal things he says or does. Whatever their motivations, it is, frankly, a mind-numbingly stupid approach to take, to simply remain obedient and loyal to a leader, and to not only avoid any criticism of that leader, but to try and shut anyone up who dares criticize that leader, to boot.

They try to shut down any and all criticism of their man, who in case we have forgotten, is supposed to be a public servant, rather than a king, or a dictator. He is supposed to represent the American people, and is also supposed to embody the very best ideals and principles of Americans, and not merely pursue selfish interests.

But instead he remains openly and transparently, perhaps even enthusiastically, partisan and divisive, and more and more Americans are finally waking up to that fact. As inconvenient as these poll numbers are for Trump supporters and self-identified conservatives, they nonetheless are impossible to ignore. Here, according to Fox News, are some of the numbers that stack up against the Trump White House:

According to the poll, “On impeachment, by a 50-44 percent margin, voters think the Senate should vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. Most Democrats say remove (81 percent) and most Republicans disagree (84 percent). Among independents, more say Trump should be removed by a 19-point margin (53-34 percent).”

Frankly, those poll numbers should be much, much higher.

It is also clear that Republican members of Congress, both in the House and in the Senate, were scared to move against President Trump. Most likely, they are afraid of that base of loyal support that he has, and perhaps they were also afraid of what Trump might say about them in tweets or his ridiculous political rallies. Obviously, Trump is quite known for his mean-spirited tweets and comments in order to try and fire up his political base. It must be hard to belong to a party where such a small minority of the American people are calling the shots, and to be paralyzed by fear to the point that they are, collectively, unable to do much of anything.

Is this just some made up thing? Or is Trump really threatening Republican members of Congress behind the scenes?

Well, according to numerous sources, some used by Adam Schiff, as well as simply using common sense and connecting the dots with what's likely to happen based on Trump's past actions, then of course he is trying to be as menacing as possible towards them. And it is not just Trump, but his whole White House. Here is a snippet that illustrates the point, taken from a recent article in Rolling Stone magazine (see link below):

That sentiment was echoed by the White House’s director of legislative affairs, who told reporters, “I can’t wait for the revenge.”

There are some Republican Senators who apparently may be considering a more moderate stance, and who are taking these proceedings seriously.

Most, however, are not. Most had their minds made up long before this trial ever even began.

Yet, according to former Republican Senator Jeff Blake, the number of Republicans in the Senate who actually would vote against Trump would number something like 30 to 35, which would be plenty enough to remove Trump from office altogether, if indeed these numbers are accurate.

Indeed, if these reports by the former Republican Senator Jeff Blake are to be believed, if the vote was held in secret, there would be enough Republicans voting against Trump and in favor of impeachment that Trump would indeed be removed from office (see link below):

Speaking at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival Thursday, Flake was responding to comments made by Republican political consultant Mike Murphy on MSNBC who said that if there was a secret vote, at least 30 GOP Senators would back impeachment.

“That's not true. There would be at least 35," Flake said.

Instead, they are too afraid to stand up to the Trump machine, even though, in fact, they might be the last line of defense before Trump outright grabs more power, and becomes even more difficult to stop, particularly for Republicans.

It is easy to see why the Republicans are not standing up to Trump. Again, they know that so doing may inevitably get them booted out of office, as they lose ground to candidates who are more extreme in their brand of conservatism. But it is difficult to understand how they are not seeing the risks of giving somebody as transparently power hungry as Trump exactly what he wants. Trump continues to bully people, to act like he is immune from any ramifications for his ridiculous, and often criminal actions. If there ever has been a president in our lifetimes who has been the very definition of the need to control someone from growing too powerful because he is clearly too dangerous to be trusted with enormous power, it is Trump. Apparently, secretly, most Republicans - even the spineless sort who occupy Congress - recognize that in private. However, because of specific political concerns of the moment, they keep bending and bending to his power and influence, playing the same game that Republicans kept playing back during the 2016 election, when they were too afraid of his money and his reach to attack him and take him down, because of what it would do to their own careers. He has only grown more powerful - and more dangerous with that power - as a result. Clearly, it is not a winning strategy for the country, or even for today's Republican party. Yet, they keep on doing it, time and time again, and there is a growing impression by some that Trump is unstoppable.

Trump knows that Democrats are not afraid to criticize and even take action, by and large. There may be some, like Democrat Joe Manchin, who seems to like Trump personally. But most of them are no fans, and they try to take their responsibilities with checks and balances and trying to keep him under some measure of control seriously.

So, he is relying on intimidation over Republicans, over members of his own party. If he gets away with this, the most serious offense of his crime-ridden presidency, then the message will predictably be that he can get away with anything. After all, a second attempt at impeachment would indeed seem to reinforce that the Trump haters truly just have it out for him, and there is less guarantee of success then, too, even if the Democrats would hold a majority.

Of course, that might not matter if Trump loses this coming election, and loses it very soundly, to boot. There is really no way otherwise that I see this guy leaving office peacefully, without making a lot of noise, and potentially, without possibly inciting violence, even possibly a second civil war, which he has warned about (as have others). That scenario might seem improbable, and hopefully, it is. But unfortunately, it still feels like a possibility. We are more divided now as a nation than it seems we ever were before. That includes the divisive sixties, as well as the early 2000's, during the lead-up to the Iraq invasion.

It is a war. And we all know that the first casualty of war is truth. Perhaps the second casualty of this particular war might be American democracy itself.

Here are the links to the articles I used in writing these blog entries:

GOP Senators Face Threat: ‘Vote Against the President and Your Head Will Be on a Pike’ by Peter Wade,

That sentiment was echoed by the White House’s director of legislative affairs, who told reporters, “I can’t wait for the revenge” The tone set with this report was echoed by the White House’s Director of Legislative Affairs Eric Ueland, who told reporters on Thursday, “I can’t wait for the revenge.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/vote-against-the-president-and-your-head-will-be-on-a-pike-942631/?fbclid=IwAR2pHFW-UjHAW3AT9SYgSb1U0jppFHknVDuTbnDiucpEDSJ5TaM6CGPzmw0