It’s one thing to have the conservative Wall Street Journal amplifying the whistleblower’s complaint that, “(T)he President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election“, and old-school conservatives like Bill Kristol running ads directed at Republican members of Congress in hopes of getting them to stand up to Trump’s abuse of power. It’s another, however, to have Fox News hosts openly going at one another’s throats over their support, or lack of support, for Donald Trump. And that’s where we are today, as an ever-growing number of Americans come out in favor of impeachment.
While, to my knowledge, no Republican members of Congress have yet to come out and say that they’d vote with the Democrats on impeachment, it does feel as though things are moving in that direction. [Michigan’s Justin Amash is pro-impeachment, but he officially left the Republican Party a few months ago.] Republican Congressman Will Hurd just tweeted out that, “We need to fully investigate all of the allegations in the whistleblower report to get to the facts, and protect this individual in the process.” And, earlier today, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger just referred to one of Trump’s tweets as being “beyond repugnant.” These aren’t exactly aggressive stands, but they could signal a growing willingness among some to at least consider what a post-Trump Republican Party may look like. And, outside of Congress, things seem to be moving a little faster, with Republican Governors Phil Scott (Vermont) and Charlie Baker (Massachusetts), having both come out in favor of the impeachment inquiry.
With all of that said, there are a lot of things we could talk about tonight, but there are five things that I wanted to note — small things that could perhaps signal bigger rifts within the Party of Trump.
1. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not only voted in support of Senator Chuck Schumer’s unanimous consent request for the release of the whistleblower documents last week, but today he said that, if the House passes articles of impeachment, he’d have “no choice but to take it up” in the Senate. This isn’t getting a lot of coverage, what with Giuliani having just been served a subpoena today and news breaking that Secretary of State Pompeo was on the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, but it seems like pretty huge news, especially given how vehemently the Majority Leader has fought to keep bringing things to the floor that might be seen as damaging to Trump. [McConnell also changed course last week, and got behind legislation to allocate $250 million in funding for states to help protect against outside interference in the 2020 voting.] At any rate, it’s something to watch.
Here's Mitch McConnell on CNBC saying that if the House passes articles of impeachment, "under the Senate rules we're required to take it up … I would have no choice but to take it up. How long we're on it is a whole different matter." pic.twitter.com/lTVQHZrGxS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 30, 2019
2. Trump is apparently frustrated with his Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, for not having a plan to contain the damage done by the whistleblower’s complaint and the transcript of the Zelensky call. I don’t imagine the conflict will force Mulvaney to go running into the arms of the resistance, but it’s interesting to note all of the little conflicts that are coming to the surface as members of the administration seek to assign blame. One would imagine it might just be a mater of time before one of them decides to push back against the President.
What, he wasn't ready with a plan to make treason palatable?
— Mark Maynard (@MarkAMaynard) September 28, 2019
3. When all of this started breaking last week, Trump was very quick to suggest that his Vice President, Mike Pence, may also be worth looking into. “Look at Mike Pence’s phone calls,” Trump said to reporters asking about his call with Zelensky. I don’t know that it makes sense to try to decipher statements made by Donald Trump, but it seems likely this was reminder to Republicans that, if they turn on him, in hopes backing Pence in 2020, that he has it within his power to take Pence down with him, leaving them without a candidate.
4. Rudy Giuliani keeps telling anyone who will listen to him that he only got involved in the Ukraine because the State Department told him to. Here is in on Fox News, showing texts from U.S. special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, who resigned from office shortly after this segment aired. Again, it’s difficult to say for certain what Giuliani is thinking when he says things like this, but you can be certain that it’s not exactly appreciated by Mike Pompeo or others at the State Department, who’d rather not be pulled into a growing scandal. [It’s illegal, by the way, for employees of the State Department to be engaged in political activities.]
Rudy Giuliani: "I never talked to a Ukrainian official until the state department called me and asked me to do it" pic.twitter.com/kvPIbPTApQ
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) September 25, 2019
5. Attorney General William Barr was apparently “surprised and angry” that Donald Trump noted him by name in the Zelensky call, stating that he and Giuliani were his point people in the plot to have Ukraine deliver dirt on Joe Biden in advance of the 2020 election. Will it be enough to force Barr to turn on Trump? Probably not. But, like these other things, it’s interesting to note that Trump’s Attorney General is letting it be known that he’s displeased with the way things are going down.
I suppose it’s possible that Trump may be able to bullshit, threaten and obfuscate his way out of this, but, if I were a betting man, I’d say that he’s finally reached the end of the line. And I can’t help but think, especially considering the character of the men involved, and the fractures that are already developing, that we’re soon going to see people turning on one another in more pronounced ways.
[I was going to go with an image of a snake eating itself, but then the last scene of Reservoir Dogs came to mind. If there’s a better image to convey what’s happening right now within Donald Trump’s Republican Party, let me know and I’ll swap it out.]