Senate GOP to House Dems: Any Impeachment Effort Would Die Over Here

Senate Republicans are warning House Democrats about something that everyone, including Nancy Pelosi, already knows in their bones: If they go forward with the impeachment of Donald Trump, there’s not a chance in hell he will be convicted in the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress. In the blink of an eye, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would bring the impeachment trial to a vote, crush it under the weight of the GOP, and Trump would be vindicated for all the world to see. Now Republicans are turning their eyes to House Democrats and asking, is that really how y’all want to kick off the 2020 election cycle?

“I think it would be disposed of very quickly,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told The Hill. “If it’s based on the Mueller report, or anything like that, it would be quickly disposed of.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said much the same thing. “It would be defeated. That’s why all they want to do is talk about it. They know what the outcome would be.”

Others told The Hill that they couldn’t imagine wasting too much of the Senate’s time on such a useless political stunt show.

“Why on earth would we give a platform to something that I judge as a purely political exercise?” asked Sen. Thom Tillis. “We have to perform our constitutional duty, but if people think that we’re going to try and create a theater that could give you the perception that this is a matter that rises to the level of Watergate, that’s nonsense.”

Meanwhile, Democrats in the House are increasingly confident in their ability to persuade Pelosi to take the plunge.

“I think it’s moving towards [impeachment],” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on NBC this weekend. “It’s going to demand it. It already is. “

The difference seems to be that people like Tlaib are trying to please their constituents back home and Pelosi is trying to do what’s right for the party going into the next election. Pelosi knows damn well what all of these Senate Republicans have said: There’s not going to be an impeachment conviction in the Senate. Hell, there’s barely going to be a trial. Instead, Republican after Republican is going to get up in front of the country, lambast the Democrats for refusing to accept the results of the 2016 election, and make them look absolutely terrible going into 2020.

Frankly, we wouldn’t mind seeing that play out.