The final hours leading up to the Senate’s big impeachment vote have arrived.
Many within the media are speculating if any Republicans or Democrats defect to the other side.
What we’ve seen from the Republicans is promising. While two defected in the witnesses vote, no Republican had yet come out in support of convicting the president.
But it looks like the first domino is falling—in Donald Trump’s favor.
From Fox News:
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, speaking on the Senate floor about the impeachment efforts Monday, urged his colleagues to formally censure President Trump — saying that while the president’s dealings with both Ukraine and Congress were “simply wrong,” he is “struggling” over whether to vote to convict and remove him from office and potentially “tear the country apart.”
Look at that! Senator Joe Manchin, from red West Virginia, is backing away from convicting the president. Instead, he wants to put forward a “censure,” a largely symbolic rebuke to the president.
Manchin may not be right about what Trump did, but he knows that trying to remove a duly-elected president from office over a phone call is wrong.
He probably knows that if he went along with the House Democrats’ scheme, he might not have a job much longer.
West Virginia is Trump country. How could Manchin convict Trump—when his state loves him?
The senator seems to be admitting that the impeachment process was flawed from the start. House Democrats rejected norms and ignored the Republicans’ concerns.
But let’s be honest, censure is too little, too late. The Democrats could have prepared a censure vote a long time ago as a backup.
It wouldn’t have affected Trump’s presidency, but at least it would have given Democrats a chance to formally air their grievances about the Ukraine call.
Instead, they went the impeachment route, voting on charges of non-crimes.
Manchin says he wants to get the Senate to vote on a censure now, but that’s not going to happen. They have to vote on the impeachment charges.
And without a 2/3rd majority vote to convict, they will clear Trump’s name. Which means that it looks like at least one Democrat will join with Republicans to acquit the president.
SHARE to tell everyone the first domino has fallen for Trump!
Source: Fox News
