From the very start, the Democrats’ hopes of impeaching Donald Trump have been slim. Very slim.
The President has consistently denied any wrongdoing when it comes to a July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – a matter which is at the very heart of this impeachment “inquiry”. A whistleblower with second hand knowledge of that phone call believed that Trump had asked Zelesnky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in that nation, holding up Congressionally-approved aid to Ukraine as an ultimatum.
The secretive impeachment process being employed by the Democrats has been frustrating for their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, galvanizing their stance against it.
Impeachment itself will need to roll through the Senate to be ultimately effective, and these now-annoyed Republicans are not likely to cede many more than a few votes in its favor.
Even staunch Democrats like Willie Brown understand that this is a futile venture.
Former mayor of San Francisco, California, Willie Brown wrote an op-ed on Saturday claiming that “no one” thinks 20 Senate Republicans will vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
“If the goal was to damage President Trump by formalizing the impeachment inquiry, it’s Mission Unaccomplished for House Democrats,” Brown wrote.
The former speaker of the California Assembly noted that during last week’s vote to formalize the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, no Republicans defected and voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Further, two Democrats, Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Collin Peterson (D-MN), voted with Republicans to oppose the resolution.
The ex-mayor was terse in his assessment.
Brown wrote that “no one” believes that 20 Senate Republicans, the number of GOP lawmakers needed to flip and convict President Trump, would cast their vote to throw the president out of office.
“And when it gets to the Senate, it will play out just the same way,” he wrote. “Someone like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah may break GOP ranks, but no one thinks 20 Republicans, the bare minimum who would have to defect to convict Trump, would actually do so.”
President Trump has been enjoying nearly unanimous support among Republicans throughout this troubling time, with Senator Mitt Romney being one of the few standouts.
Romney, for what it’s worth, isn’t all that highly regarded among Americans, however.
