The Republicans are kinda caught between a rock and a hard place, methinks.
Even if there is not enough evidence to prove collusion in the Mueller Report, there's still some pretty damning stuff in there - damning enough that Barr felt he had to redact more than half of the report in order to protect Trump and his administration.
We're not digging into the personal details of his life, here. We're looking specifically at who paid who for what and why, with a possible side-order of "What is he trying to hide in his tax returns?" Al Capone got nailed for tax evasion when nothing else stuck. There's no reason why Trump can't be impeached and then charged for it.
That said, if the Republicans wish to remain in power, they need to start fielding candidates now. The reason is simple: while they have the power indeed to keep Trump from being impeached, doing so will turn a lot of their constituents against them. Because, I think a lot of Conservative voters out there are doing the conservative thing and waiting to see what really shakes out from the Mueller Report.
It's going to be at a point close to election time that the Democrats will make their move. And it couldn't come at a worse time. The Republicans have a whopping 21 seats up for election in 2020, versus the Democrats 12 seats.
Even worse is that the deck is already stacked against the Republicans - two of those seats are toss-ups, with another three only 'leaning' or 'tilting' towards the Republican side. The Democrats, on the other hand, are mostly on pretty solid ground, with only one seat being likely to flip.
If the Democrats do come up with considerable and compelling evidence for an impeachment hearing and the Republican controlled Senate arbitrarily votes it down, then they do so at great peril.
They WILL lose the Senate, and they will very likely lose the Presidency.
Even if there is not enough evidence to prove collusion in the Mueller Report, there's still some pretty damning stuff in there - damning enough that Barr felt he had to redact more than half of the report in order to protect Trump and his administration.
We're not digging into the personal details of his life, here. We're looking specifically at who paid who for what and why, with a possible side-order of "What is he trying to hide in his tax returns?" Al Capone got nailed for tax evasion when nothing else stuck. There's no reason why Trump can't be impeached and then charged for it.
That said, if the Republicans wish to remain in power, they need to start fielding candidates now. The reason is simple: while they have the power indeed to keep Trump from being impeached, doing so will turn a lot of their constituents against them. Because, I think a lot of Conservative voters out there are doing the conservative thing and waiting to see what really shakes out from the Mueller Report.
It's going to be at a point close to election time that the Democrats will make their move. And it couldn't come at a worse time. The Republicans have a whopping 21 seats up for election in 2020, versus the Democrats 12 seats.
Even worse is that the deck is already stacked against the Republicans - two of those seats are toss-ups, with another three only 'leaning' or 'tilting' towards the Republican side. The Democrats, on the other hand, are mostly on pretty solid ground, with only one seat being likely to flip.
If the Democrats do come up with considerable and compelling evidence for an impeachment hearing and the Republican controlled Senate arbitrarily votes it down, then they do so at great peril.
They WILL lose the Senate, and they will very likely lose the Presidency.