Bob -- Hope
Bear with me, this is going somewhere unexpected. But unlikely as much of it may be, it is not improbable and starts with the basics.
I think that Democrats will take control of the House after the Mid-Terms. I don't know if they'll retake the Senate, but there are twice as many MAGOP seats up for re-election than Democratic in the Mid-Terms. And there are around four MAGOP seats that are at risk or somewhat at risk, which is all that Democrats need, as long as they hold on to their own seats. And though even that isn't certain, it's not unlikely. So, it's possible that Democrats could take control. I don't expect it, but I don't discount it -- especially with a year to go before the election and the strong possibility of inflation, higher prices from tariffs, more authoritarian/fascist abuses by the administration, and Trump's growing dementia.
So, for the sake of this article, let's assume that Democrats do retake control of both legislatures of Congress. At the very least, as the point of this article continues, the possibility is a motivating factor for voters.
On this assumption, it seems likely that at some time during the next Congress there will be Articles of Impeachment drawn up in the Democratic House against Trump. What the charge will be, who knows, the possible choices are so vast, In fact, perhaps over time, there will be several impeachments, but for our purposes here, let's say one.
And even though Democrats might control the Senate, they won't have the two-thirds of membership needed to convict Trump. However -- they will (in this possible scenario) have a majority of seats in the Senate and can set the Senate rules. Which brings us to the point here.
What I would dearly love is that -- if Democrats do have control of the Senate -- they pass a rule that any vote on presidential impeachment will be private. Just like the American public votes.
Back in 2021, seven MAGOP senators voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment. That wasn't enough to convict him, but it was the most ever by members of an impeached president's own party. At the time, I recall a Democratic senator saying that if that vote had been in private, he believed Trump would have been convicted. But being public, too many MAGOP senators feared for their safety.
Though many might fairly argue that all Senate votes should be public, I also think it's a fair argument to make that all people should be able to vote without fear of their safety.
I don't know if even with a private vote enough MAGOP senators would join with Democrats to convict Trump. (For that matter, to repeat, I don't know if they will be enough Democratic senators to have the majority.) But -- I think that among themselves when deciding how to vote, Republican senators may very well see their party leader in a year with a disastrous 32% approval rating (or lower) and having dementia, and see inflation rising badly, and prices from tariffs terrible for consumers but also causing small businesses to close, and see public outrage from the military being sent to even more American cities, and see all of this getting worse for their party over the next two years and Trump's approval dropping into the 20s, as his dementia which is degenerative get worse -- and to save their own jobs, their best option by far may be (if able to vote in private) to vote to convict Trump.
Further, I think a lot of MAGOPs in the Senate have long wanted Trump out of politics and out of their lives, making them hell. And at least some would love to have Democrats help them out of this hell they're in and unable to get themself out of on their own. And "some" is all that it would take.
I don't expect any of this. I don't expect that Democrats will even take control of the Senate. But I don't discount any of it. And hey, a guy can dream, can't he?
At the very least, I'd love to see it addressed because I think it would be a highly motivating factor for getting Democrats and Independents to the polls to vote for Democratic candidates. And far more motivating for Democrats and Independents who polls show are spitting-nails furious already about voting in the Mid-Terms than for MAGOPs, most especially since Trump's name will not be on any ballot.
I know the likelihood of this is small. In fact, very small. Unlikely. But it's not implausible. More to the point, what I always say is: I live in reality, but I have a vacation home in the Land of Hope.
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