This is why McConnell doesn't want a spectacle in the Senate over impeachment:

[applegrove]

From Heather Cox Richardson EMAIL

"SNIP......

Unlike Trump, who can win by gaming the Electoral College, or Representatives, who can win by gerrymandering, Senators have to compete in their entire state. So while Trump and Republican Representatives can rely on ginning up their base, Senators cannot afford to alienate more moderate voters. If there is a trial, they want it quick and quiet.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept the articles simple to make the issue easy to understand and moved them quickly to keep the nation’s attention. An early vote in the Senate will also force Senators to declare their support (or lack of support) for Trump while there is still time for primary challengers to jump into the 2020 race. Senators who vote to convict Trump can expect to have pro-Trump challengers, whom Trump has already made it clear he will support over those who turn on him, while those who vote to exonerate him will have a terrible time in a general election. It's a pickle.


......SNIP"

[rufus dog]

1. great point

they cost themselves seats in the last two cycle by getting the crazies elected in primaries. Have at it again you ignorant, anti American, mfers.

[Joinfortmill]

5. 👍

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. It's a pickle for the turtle, for sure.

He has to somehow defend someone who publicly confessed to a crime that was corroborated by his associates. He will need to magically produce some exculpatory information (which doesn’t exist because, confession) and do so very quickly, because when he gets the case, it’s election year. Any delays in the process should hurt republicans at the ballot box.

Good luck with all that, Mitch.
Nice work, Democratic leadership.

[Massacure]

4. I'm not even sure why Mitch would defend trump

Take Jeff Flake's statement at face value that there are at least 30 republican Senators who would vote to impeach trump if the vote were by secret ballot. If that is true, wouldn't Mitch McConnell's logical course of action be to whip his caucus to impeach Trump, and move on with an incumbent Mike Pence heading the presidential ticket?

[Garrett78]

13. Flake's full of shit.

Even if 30 Republican Senators want to convict Trump, and that's definitely not the case, they know that it would enrage the base and lead to all sorts of damaging rumors and speculation.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Mmmmm ... pickled turtle. nt

[Jarqui]

3. The evidence is clear. America is on trial here. This is the question:

Is the Constitution going to be upheld or not?

It should be plain for all the world to see how the Republicans feel about that.
They're the ones who enabled Trump.
They're as responsible for where we find ourselves today as Trump is.

Are the Republicans overwhelmed with Kompromat and corruption or not?

Even if they are, letting the country see that is heartbreaking but a good thing.
At the end of the day, given time for thought to digest the result, I do not think the country will stand for it.

[Duppers]

8. Good post. 👍

The only problem is that there are too many cultist idiots in red states who don't listen to real news.

[mitch96]

11. I think the senate trial is gonna spin to a Biden trial

Push their talking points on Ukraine/Joe and Hunter Biden/Barisma and with that get tRump off the hook.
Now the trick is will it be an open election and show who voted where or a closed/anonymous vote.. YMMV
m

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. Dear Senator McConnell:

The time has come for you to earn your title.

The facts presented in the impeachment inquiry are not disputable. Will you assist Donald J. Trump and his cohorts in subverting our elections via Russian disinformation? Will you cede the co-equal status of Congress to a temporary occupant of the White House who clearly considers himself above Congress, Constitution, and law?

Will you henceforth be known and remembered as Senator McConnell, or as Moscow Mitch?

[Martin Eden]

9. Most likely, Yes.

Trump has a hold on the voting base, and McConnell defies that at his own peril.

[Renato ray]

10. Turtle is a Russian asset

A traitor.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. The Senate is pre-gerrymandered to favor conservative, rural voters.

State borders that give voters in Wyoming the same Senate voting power as California have created a huge over-representation of rural voters who have a greater tendency to be white, right-wing, religious conservatives. The over-representation has grown tremendously in the past two centuries as the country became more urbanized.

To a lessor, but decisively important degree, the Electoral College has also given disproportionate power to a dangerously anti-democratic minority. This is how we ended up with Bush 2 and Trump. For more than a generation, the GOP has been gaming this flawed system by pandering to the fears and prejudices of voters in these over-represented states.

[applegrove]

14. Good points.

[Garrett78]

15. I agree with the late John Dingell that the Senate should be eliminated. But...

...if that were to happen, and it won't, it would be imperative that the House be greatly expanded.

I don't see us doing away with this tyranny of the minority political system in my lifetime. And that's because the system can't be reformed for the very reasons why it so desperately needs to be reformed. This is the elephant in the room. We should have a whole new US Constitution, and I'm sure the founders would be shocked to know we don't have one given how much the nation and world have changed, but a constitutional convention would be a complete disaster. States like Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas would get their way and we'd all be even worse off.

By 2040, nearly 70% of the population will be represented by just 30% of the Senate. That's simply not tolerable.