Processed Cheese

I've seen some Republican senators lately trying to argue that impeachment will split the country. However, when Bill Clinton was impeached, his approval went up to 72%, so it united the country!

The argument therefore doesn't hold. It's not impeachment that's divisive -- it's Trump. And today's Republican Party that enables him.
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Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) says we shouldn't have an impeachment since the election is so close and we should leave it to the voters.  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said the same thing.  It appears to be on the latest GOP memo.  It is also the same argument the Republicans used to block Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court. Been there, done that. We saw this movie, it wasn't good the first time.  No thanks.

There is also the mantra from Trump, and Republican officials who got the same GOP memo, is this is an "unconstitutional" impeachment.  This is probably the most bizarre argument at all given that impeachment is actually, literally in the Constitution.  The only thing I can figure is that they believe if you saying something this inane enough, then the portion of their devout base that doesn't grasp the most basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution will believe it.  And yes, I understand that "the portion of their devout base that doesn't grasp the most basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution " is not only an oxymoron but likely close to its entirety.

What is becoming clear from all this is that the only argument Republicans seem to be willing to try is process.  Because I haven't heard the widespread argument that soliciting assistance from a foreign individual or government to impact a U.S. election is not only illegal, but simply wrong and dangerous to national security.  A small handful of Republican have argued that the president didn't do that, but that argument doesn't carry  very far -- only about as far as dropping a 20-pound weight on your foot -- since we have Trump saying he did that on videotape and in the summary memory released by the White House.  So, the argument relies, again like above, on the cultish base not believe what they see and hear, just like Trump told them months ago.

The biggest problem when your only argument is process in hopes to convince your most zealous followers, and not substance, is that impeachment is not actually based on process (whether accurate or not) or what the acolytes believe (whether accurate or not), but rather the substance of the charges.  Alternate facts don't work here.

Republicans crying all manner of different "process" yelps is the equivalence of the old lawyer doctrine -- when the law is against you, argue the fact.  When the facts are against you, argue the law.  And when neither the law or facts are on your side, pound the table and shout like hell.

If Republicans had the facts or the law on their side, they'd be arguing them.  They're arguing chimeras, as loudly as they possible can.  Hoping to drown out reality.

The trouble for them is that reality here is a train barreling down the tracks at them, and chimeras have no impact on stopping such things.