Impeach!

[Altair]

It needed a thread.

I have 3 questions:

1) Do you think this will snowball to the point that even Republican senators will begin to defect, and Chump gets kicked to the curb?

2) If not, and craven Republicans continue to back a critter who's clearly unfit as they're currently doing--and therefore the Senate does not take this up--what do you think the effects of a House vote to impeach will be?

3) I'm told Chump has something like a 90% approval rating among Republicans. I'm sincerely interested, if anyone here thinks they can speak to this, as to why that is. What makes him so popular with that electorate?

[RandallS]

1) Do you think this will snowball to the point that even Republican senators will begin to defect, and Chump gets kicked to the curb?

Sadly, I don't see many defections likely. I'm convinced that Trump could murder someone on national TV and few of his supporters would see much wrong with it. The Republican party has shrunk to the point that it is his supporters and few others.

Worse, as far as I can tell most Republicans in power see nothing wrong with this. Winning elections and staying in power are their goals and they see little wrong with foreign interference in our elections so long as it helps them stay in office and maintain power. Just as they see nothing wrong with making voting harder for people who are not likely to vote for them. The current Republican party is has little use for the democratic process.

2) If not, and craven Republicans continue to back a critter who's clearly unfit as they're currently doing--and therefore the Senate does not take this up--what do you think the effects of a House vote to impeach will be?

It will fire up Trump supporters, especially when the Senate votes to acquit -- as they are almost certain to do.  If the House comes up with truly damning evidence and presents it well, voting to impeach may not backfire on them -- especially if they can time the vote to impeach for next summer when the Senate ignoring the damning evidence will be fresh in voters minds in November.  But their still needs to be damning evidence -- on the order of the level of evidence that there was against Nixon when the House impeached him.

3) I'm told Chump has something like a 90% approval rating among Republicans. I'm sincerely interested, if anyone here thinks they can speak to this, as to why that is. What makes him so popular with that electorate?

With the Christian Far Right, he is giving them judges who oppose abortion, oppose separation of church and state, oppose homosexuality and that's all they care about. With most of the rest of his supporters, it's probably because he is as racist and sexist as they are and that gives them the freedom to show their true racist/sexist colors.  With the rest, I have no idea.

[MadZealot]

1) Do you think this will snowball to the point that even Republican senators will begin to defect, and Chump gets kicked to the curb?

Doubtful. The current GOP have buried their collective nose about a half mile up his ass. Even if the House pulls the trigger, the Senate GOPhers will just close ranks around him-- and, when called on it, they'll simply deflect to how the Dems once circled the wagons around one BJ Clinton.

2) If not, and craven Republicans continue to back a critter who's clearly unfit as they're currently doing--and therefore the Senate does not take this up--what do you think the effects of a House vote to impeach will be?

Both his critics and his syocphantic grabasses will remain dug in on their respective hills. There's been some speculation on whether he'll get a little bump in popularity, thanks to independents and undecideds being unhappy with the Democrats' decision. I don't know about that; but then, I don't know a single fence-sitter.

3) I'm told Chump has something like a 90% approval rating among Republicans. I'm sincerely interested, if anyone here thinks they can speak to this, as to why that is. What makes him so popular with that electorate?

I know one guy who's a diehard Republican cheerleader-- he's a party guy, and to him, everything Trump shits is gold. I know another guy who just hates "libtards" and wants to watch them squirm. And I know a lot of people whose votes were little more than a middle finger to the whole sorry system. They think all the shit-stirring is amusing. Based on the commentary I've read, a huge bunch of the pro-Trump sentiment boils down to this: when you call someone racist, sexist, etc., often enough and for long enough, they'll eventually tell you to fuck off. And voting for Trump was how they did it.