It Really is All About the Fear
Of all the commentary about the Senate trial of the current occupant of the White House, I think only Sherrod Brown has come close to identifying the reason 52 Senators failed to convict and remove him from office. Brown wrote , “For the stay-in-office-at-all-cost representatives and senators, fear is the motivator. They are afraid that Mr. Trump might give them a nickname like ‘Low Energy Jeb’ and ‘Lyin’ Ted,’ or that he might tweet about their disloyalty. Or — worst of all — that he might come to their state to campaign against them in the Republican primary.” 1 I don’t think that’s the entirety of their fear, however. If it were, Lamar Alexander, I think, would have voted with Mitt Romney because he’s retiring anyway. Pat Roberts and Mike Enzi are also retiring; given the overwhelming case made on abuse of power, it’s hard to see how even the most diehard supporters of the president would risk their integrity to vote against conviction and removal if their re-election were not