Hours away from Senate vote to acquit Trump, GOP Senator says GUILTY
Who says politics is boring? Annoying, yes. Jaw-dropping, sometimes. Despicable? Depends on which day and which side.
But boring? Never, since the era of Donald J. Trump. Last night, we had the spectacle of Speaker Nancy Pelosi dramatically ripping up the transcript of the president’s State of the Union speech after he delivered it. Classy.
And today we have Senator Mittens Romney attempting to grab a share of the limelight. Just hours before the Senate will vote to acquit President Trump of the articles of impeachment filed by the House of Representatives, Romney announced that he was voting to convict President Donald Trump on the first article of impeachment—abuse of power.
Per NBC News, Romney, R-Utah, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he would vote to convict the president for abuse of power and to acquit on the obstruction of Congress charge.
“I swore an oath before God to exercise impartial justice,” he said. “I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am.”
He added that he believed Trump was “guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.”
It’s just kinda funny, because this is same Mitt Romney who just days ago was calling for more witnesses in the “trial” because there was no way to make a true determination without them. Bring on Bolton, he cried.
But today? Witnesses, shmitnesses. Who needs ‘em?
Not that Romney’s vote will make any difference. The Senate requires a two-thirds majority, or 67 votes to convict. Republicans hold 53 seats, so one vote less won’t matter. Democrats need 19 more Republicans to vote guilty, and that’s not likely – considering the president’s job approval rating has now climbed to 49 percent according to Gallup, and that was BEFORE last night’s speech.
Frankly, the final outcome of this impeachment trial should come to a surprise to exactly…no one.
However, forgetting any backlash Romney may receive from his DC colleagues for his vote, he might find himself getting hit literally where he lives.
Last week a Utah representative, Rep. Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, filed a bill to allow Utahns to recall an elected United States senator.
Not mentioning any names though, but the timing was interesting.
The Deseret News reported Quinn said he started drafting the bill “weeks and weeks ago” after some constituents came to him raising ideas of how Utah could return to a “pre-17th Amendment” time, or when U.S. senators were appointed rather than elected.
To Quinn, a six-year term for a senator is a lengthy term, and his bill would be a “good mechanism in place to make any senator, current or future, a little more accountable to those who elected him or her.”
So, the political gamesmanship continues. And after today’s vote to acquit, we’ll have to wait for the NEXT anti-Trump salvo. Shall we start a pool to guess what it will be? Another sex scandal? More Russians? Ukraine? Emoluments? Tax evasion? Ivanka’s dresses? Stay tuned…
Leave a comment