Trump’s ongoing awfulness is still the fault of Republican Senators

My high-school-aged son today complained that all my blog is just me pasting in stuff from people smarter than me.  He’s not entirely wrong.  But, I like to think there’s some genuine value-added from figuring out what the smartest people out there are saying and figuring out what bits make the most sense to share. 

Anyway, good stuff from Jonathan Bernstein on Trump’s ongoing horrible behavior and where the fault lies:

The question is what can be done about this. The answer, alas, is not much. I’ve previously argued that President-elect Joe Biden is correct to downplay Trump’s nonsense, and I still think that’s true. Nor is there much for House Democrats to do. Sure, they could return to Washington and hold hearings, but what is there really to say? They could impeach Trump a second time, a fate he richly deserves. But unless Republicans in the Senate were on board, there wouldn’t be much of a point to that either. 

Those Senate Republicans are the ones who could put a stop to it all. They could threaten to remove Trump if he persists. (Yes, there’s not enough time for the House to do a regular impeachment process and for the Senate to hold a full trial, but neither are required by the constitution — if the votes were there, both chambers could get it done in a week.) Such a threat might be enough to ensure they wouldn’t actually have to go through with it. Or they could follow up on what Thune said Monday and make a more public condemnation of the president. Even if that didn’t stop him, it might reduce the damage.

But it’s also not likely to happen, since attacking Trump would risk their own popularity and future re-elections. (Trump is already attacking Senator Mitch McConnell for accepting the election results weeks after they were clear.) It also would put their majority at immediate risk, given that Trump could react by urging his supporters to stay home in the upcoming Georgia runoff elections. But we should be clear: Outside of the people actively plotting with the president, it’s Republican senators who bear the most responsibility for constantly enabling him when they could’ve reined him in. It’s a sorry record.