Skip to footer
Politics Watch
A weekly window on the American political scene hosted by the Monitor's politics editors.

House may vote to impeach – but then McConnell runs the show

|
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks through the Capitol building on Oct. 29, 2019, in Washington.

| WASHINGTON

Dear reader:

It’s looking increasingly likely that the House of Representatives will vote to impeach President Donald Trump – at which point, the action will shift to the Senate.

So far, most Republican senators have largely stuck to a “no comment” posture, pointing to their anticipated role as jurors in an impeachment trial. A few have expressed concern over details emerging about the president’s dealings with Ukraine.

Why We Wrote This

Senate Republicans could opt for an expedited trial, to put the matter behind them. Or they could draw it out and try to re-frame the narrative in the president’s favor.

But at this point, it seems highly unlikely that enough of them would vote against President Trump to achieve the required two-thirds vote to remove him from office. In fact, it’s as easy to envision certain Democratic senators voting against conviction (West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema come to mind) as it is Republicans voting for it.

Right now, most Republican senators seem to want to put the whole matter behind them. “Every indication is that articles [of impeachment] will be coming our way eventually," Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., recently told reporters. "I just wish it was sooner rather than later."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that the rules do require the Senate to take up articles of impeachment in the wake of a House vote, but he’s also indicated his desire for an expedited process.

Yet Republicans may not want the trial to be too quick – since it represents their chance to reframe the narrative in the run-up to next year’s election. Indeed, a Senate trial could take place right as Democratic primary voters are casting ballots for their nominee.

Interestingly, in a Washington Post op-ed this week, Trump critics Lanny Davis and Anthony Scaramucci argue that there’s little point in holding a Senate trial with a preordained outcome, anyway.

“We believe the Senate should proceed to a trial only if at least 20 Republican senators announce beforehand that they are open-minded about removing Trump from office,” write the former Clinton and Trump aides. Otherwise, they say, a trial would be a “waste of time.”

The op-ed may be an attempt to push GOP senators to declare publicly their independence from the president. But it also raises the possibility that some Democrats are worried the Senate phase of impeachment – with a trial controlled by Republicans – could hold downsides for their party.

Let us know what you’re thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to House may vote to impeach – but then McConnell runs the show
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Watch/2019/1030/House-may-vote-to-impeach-but-then-McConnell-runs-the-show
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe