Mitt Romney has done all he can to kill his political career by the next time he runs for Senate. Now, some NeverTrumpers like the asses at Hot Gas are hoping and think that Willard Mitt Romney may actually vote to convict Romney when the vote comes on Wednesday. Would Romney dare vote in such a way? I can’t say I would put it past him. I suppose that all these NeverTrump scum can hope for. Getting one Republican to vote with Democrats (who may lose between 3-5 members to acquit). Romney is pure scum, don’t be surprised if he does pull this.
| Is Romney going to vote to convict Trump in the Senate? |
|---|
|
I’d guess it’s 50/50 at this point whether he does. A week ago, before the NYT’s story about what’s in Bolton’s book dropped, I would have guessed 80/20 that he acquits. The case for calling Bolton as a witness wasn’t as urgent at the time, which would have made it easier for Romney to get comfortable with the line Alexander took last night — yes, what Trump apparently did was inappropriate but it’s not a high crime or misdemeanor. Bad, but not impeachable. There’s not even firsthand evidence that the president was involved!
But I think the game changed with the Times’s revelation that Trump allegedly told Bolton there was an “aid for Democratic dirt” deal with Ukraine, per Bolton’s manuscript. And I think it probably changed more as Romney marinated in the sheer abject servility his colleagues are prepared to show on Trump’s behalf by not even deigning to hear Bolton out before rendering a verdict despite the allegation in that Times story. I can’t find the article now but I remember reading somewhere months ago on a different occasion how frustrated Romney was by the timidity of some Senate Republicans towards the president. If that was true then his frustration must be off the charts after Alexander’s and Murkowski’s decision on witnesses.
Which means, putting all of that together, that he may be emboldened about the coming vote on acquittal or removal. He might see it now not just as a vote on the merits but as a test of whether anyone — anyone — in the party’s leadership is willing to call BS on squeezing a foreign government to damage your likely electoral opponent and say, “Yeah, this was seriously wrong.”