Just count the GOP senators whom the president has publicly insulted and you have nearly half the GOP votes needed for removal

One of the better summaries of the impeachment process and fate. From Democrats Have Failed to Prove Their Case Against Trump by Mario Loyola.

Instead of advocating one way or another, Loyola looks at the process requirements, the arguments being made, and the quality of the evidence as required by the process. It is a refreshing approach.

This is somewhat related to my post yesterday, When winning arguments is prioritized over discovering the truth.

The whole Loyola article is worth reading and he makes several important points. This is one I found both striking and amusing.

In the current Congress, for example, removing Trump would require the votes of 20 Republican senators (out of 53), assuming all Democrats and independents voted in favor. That’s a high hurdle, but Trump’s support among Republican senators has always been guarded, not to say grudging. Indeed, just count the GOP senators whom the president has publicly insulted or gotten crosswise with at some point and you have nearly half the GOP votes needed for removal. In that sense, Trump is potentially more vulnerable to impeachment and removal than most presidents would be, which should reduce the burden for Democrats.

And yet the Democrats have failed to carry even this reduced burden. Because Mueller noted there could have been a legitimate motive for most of the possible instances of obstruction, his report left Democrats in the position of having to prove that any benefit of these acts to the president was not merely incidental, but was in fact the purpose of the acts. Faced with that daunting evidentiary challenge, they searched for more promising grounds for impeachment.