Banzai
4931
I imagine his democratic opponent will be well-funded.
Oh wow, a coward and a traitor. I’m shocked.
I can’t imagine anyone voting for this douchebag. The democrats in his district will be angry at him, and the republicans won’t trust him. Especially since "In the interview explaining his opposition to an Oct. 31 resolution authorizing the impeachment inquiry, Van Drew said he was “proud to be a Democrat.”
Canuck
4934
I was not expecting him to be a representative of New Jersey.
It’s a district that went for Trump by five points, and Drew only won in 2018 because his Republican opponent went sideways somehow. He was almost certain to lose to a Republican next November, especially if he voted to impeach; and Dem polling showed that if he voted against impeachment, the Dems would primary him out of his seat anyway. So it’s all about improving his chance to be re-elected. He’ll side with Trump and switch parties, then hope that plus Trump’s enthusiastic support will get Republican voters behind him. Probably it will work, why not? In any event, if keeping his seat is all he cares about, this is his best shot.
It’s because they don’t want to govern, they want to rule. You must bow down and kiss the ring. Or else.
(I know, I keep repeating this.)
This could be interesting. Even without the part about Amash being an effective questioner, it could be used to highlight the fact that impeachment has no Republican support because anyone who supports impeachment has no place in the Republican party.
A big reason that Trump has such high support among Republican is so many of us have quit the party.
On the Meet the Press, they interviewed 1/2 dozen Republicans, but one described herself as “repulsed Republican” and the another sounded like he was in favor of impeached.
The percentage of people registered as Republicans has been more or less constant 26-30% for at least a decade. It is currently…30%. Not too many people have left the party over Trump.
orald
4940
Why do you think the Dems want a longer trial?
orald
4941
Tough district. Brave stance. Tough woman. I am proud to have contributed to her campaign.
Folks here have strong opinions I hope you will also open up your wallets for members like her, Abby Spanberger and the others that flipped districts in 2018 and will face a different electorate in 2020.
Edit: I just sent her another contribution to thank her.
They want a real trial. With a real trial the House managers (Dems) can subpoena witnesses and documents, including those witnesses who have refused to appear and those documents they have been denied. John Roberts as presiding officer will rule immediately on the validity of those subpoenas and his ruling cannot be appealed; it can only be trumped by a simple majority vote in the Senate. So there are 4 possible outcomes:
- Dems get to examine all the witnesses and documents they have been denied, and do it publicly
- Roberts denies the subpoenas
- Roberts approves them but Republicans publicly overrule him
- Republicans try to overrule him but fail publicly
All of these outcomes are varying levels of good for Dems politically, and two of them are also victories for transparency and the rule of law no matter the outcome of the trial.
Those polls don’t really say much other than that the overall split of party identification hasn’t shifted in a decade. We don’t know how many people moved between categories, only the overall flow, and we don’t know how the partisan lean of independents breaks down, since far fewer people are actually swing voters than the number who say they are independents.
So for example, if 7-8% of people called themselves independents, but were actually right-wingers annoyed with the centrism of the party in 2014 and now those people all call themselves Republicans while a different 7-8% of those who used to say Republican now say independent, that would represent a large negative shift for the party that would be invisible in the Gallup poll, essentially softening their votes in the “independent but lean Republican” slice.
Now I don’t have any data that can put a number on this effect (maybe it’s 0.1% instead of 7-8%) and there are plenty of other possible scenarios with same outcomes in the variables that poll measures. What we can say, though, is that Trump is unpopular and nearly half the GOP congressmen elected with him are gone, but it hasn’t destroyed the party the way it should have. Yet (he said, hope glistening in his eyes).
orald
4944
Hmm. I think they want this to end quickly as does McConnell. We’ll know more soon.
Well, they’ve just issued an impeachment report which argues (among other things) that a Senate trial is the right place to adjudicate whether House impeachment subpoenas must be obeyed.
I think they want to question Mulvaney, Pompeo, other OMB and State and NSA people, and they understand that the subpoena issue can be resolved quite quickly in the Senate but will be delayed for months or more if they take it to the courts.
Edit: And they’re complaining quite loudly at the suggestion that Republicans might simply dismiss the whole thing without a trial in the Senate. They want the trial.
Sure, that’s possible. On the other hand, there is a paucity of evidence that people have left the party in droves. I don’t personal know anyone who has, outside of this forum.
If you’re right that not many people have left the GOP, then Trump’s 95% (or whatever the fuck it is) approval rating within the party is even more terrifying/baffling/hilarious.
It’s not and never has been 95%, that’s just typical DJT lies, bluster, and bullshit. I bet it’s in the 80s though. Hell, in the latest Fox poll I think more than 10% of Republicans supported impeachment.
KevinC
4949
The last number I recall was 18% support for impeachment among Republicans. This was from back in early November and I don’t recall the polling outfit, but I think ti’s probably a good ballpark figure.
