As senators take to the chamber well to explain to the American people why Donald Trump is allowed to be a despot today, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is leading the charge slow embarrassed shuffle towards a Senate censure measure, in an effort to try to shame his GOP colleagues into admitting Trump did something wrong.
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a moderate who is friendly with the White House, on Monday asked his colleagues to consider censuring President Trump as the Senate moves toward votes on impeachment.
“I do believe a bipartisan majority of this body would vote to censure President Trump for his action in this matter. Censure would allow this body to unite across party lines,” Manchin said in a speech on the Senate floor. “His behavior cannot go unchecked by the Senate and censure would allow a bipartisan statement condemning his unacceptable behavior in the strongest terms.”
It is an effort that could put pressure on some Republican senators as they mull whether to reprimand Trump in coming weeks, even if they vote Wednesday to acquit him on the House’s two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
But Manchin’s proposal will face obstacles as lawmakers in both parties resist the idea and hew to their leadership’s position on how to respond to Trump’s conduct.
Manchin has prepared a censure resolution for fellow senators to review in coming days, which would be a less severe rebuke than removal from office for Trump’s involvement in pressuring Ukraine to investigate a domestic political rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
“What the president did was wrong,” Manchin said in his speech.
The crux of the case against Trump is the allegation that he withheld military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, while his father was vice president.
The resolution was shared with The Washington Post by a person close to Manchin who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely.
Manchin is trying to provide a fig leaf, the question is for whom. The measure will never get a Senate floor vote, Mitch McConnell will see to that. If that's the point, to shame the GOP twice, then I guess it will have just as much effect as the first time, which is none at all.
But what I think may very well happen is Manchin will trade his acquittal vote and the vote of several Democratic senators for bringing the censure measure to the floor. Trump badly wants "bipartisan" acquittal and Manchin doesn't want to go down as voting to convict in a state where Trump won by 24 points in 2016 and will win by a similar margin in November.
In other words, this is going to be cover for Democrats to vote to acquit. And when Mitch sabotages the censure vote, Manchin and his friends will end up holding the bag. At this point there's no reason to trust McConnell at all.
That might change next January with a smaller GOP margin or, the universe willing, a Democratic-led Senate. But for now, McConnell no longer needs Manchin for anything.
Both of them know it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment