Donald Trump may think he’s got it all sewn up in the Senate since Mitch McConnell is publicly promising a sham trial, but there are still some Republican senators who might not stick with the president.
According to Jim Manley, former chief spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, McConnell wouldn’t be going on Fox News to spout off if he was so sure that his Senate caucus was fully onboard with a phony trial.
“The fact that he’s still hedging his bets and the fact that he made these comments to Fox that are apparently boomeranging a little bit gives me pause about actually where his caucus is,” Manley said.
“I think that there’s still a handful of folks that are really concerned about getting tied to Donald Trump on all of this,” he added.
Video:
Jim Manley, former chief spokesman for Senate majority leader Harry Reid, says it’s clear that Mitch McConnell doesn’t have his sham trial sewn up. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/eqX2vLwcWZ
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) December 27, 2019
Manley said:
Yes, the interesting dynamic to watch is the fact that, if McConnell would have had this thing sewn up, if he would have had his caucus on board, he would have moved very quickly to try and get this thing up and organized. And the fact that he’s still hedging his bets and the fact that he made these comments to Fox that are apparently boomeranging a little bit gives me pause about actually where his caucus is. I think that there’s still a handful of folks that are really concerned about getting tied to Donald Trump on all of this, especially when news is breaking day in, day out about, you know, different facets of the case.
The political dynamics in the Senate are far different than the House
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s latest comments – that she is “disturbed” by McConnell’s coordination with the White House – shows that the Senate majority leader might not have the complete backing of the more moderate members of his caucus.
As I wrote earlier this month, Republican senators up for reelection – like Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gardner of Colorado – are concerned about letting Trump skate in a phony Senate trial.
That’s because there are different political dynamics at play in the upper chamber of Congress.
Unlike the House of Representatives, Senate races are statewide contests. The seats aren’t gerrymandered into oblivion to provide GOP lawmakers protection from voters who actually care that the president committed impeachable offenses.
That’s why – even though there is almost no chance Trump will be removed from office by the Senate – some GOP senators are hesitant to follow Mitch McConnell into a sham trial.
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