Mitt Romney of Utah
Susan Collins of Maine
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
Mike Enzi of Wyoming
Cory Gardner of Colorado
Johnny Isakson of Georgia
This means that Lindsey Graham is not able to gain support from the entire Republican Senate caucus, and is a hint of the likelihood that such a resolution to condemn the House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry will fail to gain a majority of the US Senate.
It could be that a vote for conviction in an impeachment trial might be 54-46, not enough to remove Donald Trump, but a major slap in the face, nevertheless to the 45th President.
And it could be more than seven Republican Senators could end up voting against Trump, although the likelihood of reaching the threshold of 20 Republicans joining with all 47 Democrats to remove Donald Trump is very much a long shot.
Sorry, Professor. WHEN ~ not If ~ but When the Senate does not convict Trump, it will NOT be a “major slap in a the face, nevertheless” to POTUS XLV.
It will have handed Trump, every Republican who supported him who is running for office in 2020, and his and their owners, operators, handlers, and script writers the perfect ammunition they need to blow Democrat hopes for 2020 completely out of the water, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
And removing Trump by impeachment and conviction is very much more than “very much a long shot.” It is a complete and total pipedream.
But it does help keep everybody’s minds off inconveniently blunt facts like those blared in the Reuters headline, and the grim indicators of a looming fiscal, financial, economic, political, cultural, social, and environmental disaster they present:
“U.S. GOVERNMENT’S ANNUAL BUDGET DEFICIT LARGEST SINCE 2012. Washington (Reuters) – The U.S. government ended fiscal year 2019 with the largest budget deficit in seven years as gains in tax receipts were offset by higher spending and growing debt service payments, the Treasury department said on Friday.
“The U.S. budget deficit widened to $984 billion, which was 4.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product. The previous fiscal year deficit was $779 billion, with a deficit-to-GDP-ratio of 3.8%. Total receipts increased by 4% to $3.5 trillion but outlays rose by 8.2% to $4.4 trillion.”
The article goes on to note that, on the one hand, Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a statement accompanying the figures: “Americans from all walks of life are flourishing again thanks to pro-growth policies enacted by this administration.”
But on the other, that Bill Hoagland, Senior Vice President at the Bipartisan Policy Center said: “This is an administration that came in talking about reducing the deficit and over their term in office, they’ve quite frankly been increasing; we normally reduce deficits in times of growth.â€
Reuters concluded: “Earlier this year The U.S. CONGRESS PASSED A TWO-YEAR BUDGET DEAL BACKED BY TRUMP that would increase federal spending on defense and other domestic programs.” [EMPHASIS added.] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-budget/u-s-governments-annual-budget-deficit-largest-since-2012-idUSKBN1X426T
At 9:29pm AkDT, 25oct19, the national, sovereign Debt of the United States of America stood at $22,918,313,$$$,$$$; or twenty-three trillion, nine hundred eighteen billion, three hundred thirteen million dollars, and counting, In the time it takes to read this sentence, the Debt will have increased by close to one million dollars. [https://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html]
And that does not include the current unfunded liabilities smoldering like a California wildfire on the verge of ignition in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, pensions, and other entitlements programs.
The truly interesting and not at all surprising further fact of the matter is that, after four prime time debates, two town halls, all sorts of campaign policy statements, and so forth, there has not been one single mention ~ by any of the candidates or their media interrogators ~ of even the words, let alone the issue, of the national debt, the government’s now projected perpetual deficits, or what happens when Social Security goes broke before all the Baby Boomers have died off.
Not a single [expletive deleted] word.
i guess the operative paradigm is that if we pretend a problem doesn’t exist sincerely enough, hard enough, and long enough, that it will just somehow magically go away, eh?
As of last night, Lindsey Graham had 50 signatures for his resolution. The three who had not signed were Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/25/politics/lindsey-graham-impeachment-inquiry-resolution-republican-senators/index.html
Sorry, Lindsey, a federal judge has ruled that the impeachment inquiry is legal.
https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/federal-judge-rules-impeachment-inquiry-is-legal-72077893897
In 2020, we the people will vote out Republicans who side with Twitler.
Trump Needed a Distraction. Barr Gave Him One
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/10/25/trump-needed-a-distraction-barr-gave-him-one-2/
LOL! Rudy Giuliani butt-dialed an NBC News reporter — twice — leaving long voicemail messages in which he’s heard discussing Joe Biden, business in Bahrain and his need for cash.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1071901?__twitter_impression=true