Impeachment vote dilemma traps Senate moderates

Bloomberg

The biggest mystery left in Donald Trump’s inevitable impeachment acquittal is whether any Democrats will join Senate Republicans to give him a bipartisan vote to clear him of the House’s charges.
Democratic senators who represent Trump-leaning states have to decide whether they will buck their party on what could be the most important vote before the November elections and risk alienating voters who like the president.
The most vulnerable is Senator Doug Jones, who is up for re-election this year in Alabama. Jones said he won’t announce how he’ll vote ahead of time, even though the Senate floor is open on Wednesday for senators to explain their thoughts about the trial debate over the past two weeks.
While some Republicans also haven’t said how they plan to vote, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski took to the floor Monday night to say that she “cannot vote to convict,” even though she called Trump’s actions “shameful and wrong.” She criticised the House for building its case on a “rotted foundation” of partisanship and arbitrary deadlines, and she said she’d leave it to voters to decide Trump’s fate in the fall.
This declaration from a Republican who was at one time considered a vote within reach for Democrats demonstrates how unlikely it is that any GOP senator will vote against the party, which controls the 100-member chamber. Trump’s swift wrath at any perceived disloyalty has increased the political stakes for independently minded Republicans — and helped cement a united GOP vote against his December 18 impeachment in the House.
House Republicans last year attracted at least two Democrats to vote against the articles charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, though one later switched his party affiliation.
Still, it was enough to claim bipartisan opposition to House Democrats’ case.
Now just one Senate Democrat voting to acquit Trump would allow the president to go into his re-election campaign claiming bipartisan vindication in his trial as well. Since it would take a two-thirds majority of the Senate to remove him from office, his eventual acquittal was never seriously in doubt.

‘Truly Struggling’
Beyond Jones, the possibility of a bipartisan acquittal rests partly on the votes on the two articles by Democrats like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who won’t have to run again until 2024.
He used his floor speech to say he is still undecided, even as he criticised his Senate colleagues for not seeking more evidence in the trial.
“History will judge the Senate harshly for failing in its constitutional duty to try this case and do the impartial justice to defend the Constitution and
to protect our democracy,” Manchin said. “I am truly struggling with this decision and will come to a conclusion reluctantly as voting whether or not to remove a sitting president is the most consequential decision that I or any US senator will ever face.”
There are other Democrats who also remain undecided, like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.