On the brink

Barring his resignation, which being honest, nobody believes is going to happen; sometime tomorrow Donald Trump is going to become the first President of the United States to be impeached twice. The impeachment vote is not expected to be close, nor is it expected to be a party line vote. A handful of Republicans have already announced their intention to vote for the impeachment. Others may join. 

Multiple sources have been reporting for days that Republicans in both houses of Congress blame Trump for the attempted violent insurrection of January 6th. Those sources state that some members are "incandescent" in their fury with the president. This evening, in what is almost certainly a strategically timed leak, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reported to believe the president committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased by the prospect of Trump's impeachment, seeing it as an opportunity to purge Trump and his more nutty supporters from the party. McConnell is widely regarded as one of the craftiest Majority Leaders since LBJ. It is also generally understood that there is no love lost between him and Trump. Adding to the political calculation, Jonathan Martin, a New York Times reporter tweeted tonight that as many as twenty GOP senators were open to convicting the president before McConnell's timely leak. The leak from sources close to McConnell also showed up about an hour or so after Liz Cheney, the # 3 in the House GOP caucus announced she will vote to impeach Trump in a scathing statement. And lastly it appears that the leadership in the House has told the GOP caucus that members may vote their conscience. Between them, both Cheney and McConnell seem to be signaling their support for the president's impeachment. It now remains to be seen how many Republicans will risk the wrath of Trump's more die hard supporters in tomorrow's vote. 

Likely adding to the threat to his own presidency, Mr. Trump today denied any responsibility for inciting last Wednesday's insurrectionist riot. This, less than a day after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to calm the anger of GOP Congressmen/women by telling them he had personally talked to Trump and that the president had acknowledged he had some responsibility for last week's attack. Trump coupled his denial of culpability with some fairly menacing language hinting at more trouble if they pursue impeachment.