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As big manufacturers have left, Dayton has suffered.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

DAYTON, Ohio Shawn Hoskins used to vote Democratic down the line. For the son of a lifelong Teamster, it was the way I was raised it was the way it should be, he said. And after he went to work on the assembly line at General Motors Moraine Assembly plant in suburban Dayton, I had a job and was in the union and liked the way things were going.

But in 2008, G.M. closed the Moraine plant. At 42, with two toddlers, Mr. Hoskins found himself unemployed. As his fortunes soured, his politics changed: In 2012, for the first time, he voted for a Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

In 2016 he voted for Donald J. Trump, helping push Montgomery County, where Dayton sits, into the arms of the G.O.P. for the first time since George Bush took it in 1988. And Ohio which Mr. Trump took by eight percentage points fell into step with the political re-sorting that is transforming the Republican Party into the home of white Americans who feel left behind by globalization and technological change.

In the 1990s there was no strong correlation between the economic standing of a place and the partisan preference of its voters: The Republican Party received roughly the same share of the vote in richer and poorer counties. By 2000, however, the electoral map had started to shift.

Now, the Republican share of the vote has increased across the nations most economically disadvantaged counties, while the most successful counties have moved toward the Democrats.

In the mid-1990s, Montgomery Countys residents roughly three-quarters of them white, then as now enjoyed roughly the same living standard as the average American. G.M. was the big employer, but there were others, like Delphi and NCR. When big manufacturers left, Dayton suffered. By 2016, the countys income per person had fallen to under 87 percent of the national average. And Mr. Trump won the county by one percentage point.

Lela Klein, a former union activist who runs Co-op Dayton, a community development group, contrasts Dayton with Columbus, a relatively prosperous college town some 70 miles east. We havent recovered from 2007, and they have, she said. We have become redder, and they have become bluer.

Daytons fate looks familiar in Macomb County, Mich., north of Detroit. Macomb Countys income per person has dropped from 110 percent of the national average to 87 percent in the last two decades. And the G.O.P.s share of the countys presidential vote rose to 54 percent in 2016, from 48 percent.

In Columbus County, N.C., where textile mills and other manufacturers were once solid employers, the Republican share increased to 60 percent from 45 percent over the same period, as income per person fell from 71 percent of the national average to 61 percent.

On the flip side, the Republican share of the vote in Gallatin County, Mont., which includes the college town of Bozeman, declined from 59 percent to 44 percent during that time as the average income of its residents increased to 102 percent of the national average, from 83 percent.

By 2016, the nations political map corresponded neatly to the distribution of prosperity: Mr. Trump won 58 percent of the vote in the counties with the poorest 10 percent of the population. In the richest, his share was 31 percent.

The Republican Party, which long identified itself with unbridled economic prosperity led by a powerful business constituency that favored free trade and the unfettered capital mobility that fueled the march of globalization came to be embraced by many parts of America that globalization upended.

And the Democrats, once accused of working to keep the poor poor in order to preserve a captive voting base, have instead come to represent the places that benefited most from the global economy of the late 20th century and early 21st.

Mr. Hoskinss transformation is telling. After losing his job, he collected unemployment benefits for a time, as he waited, unsuccessfully, for an opening at another G.M. plant anywhere. He took a job loading trucks at a supplier for McDonalds, earning less than half the $30 an hour he made in Moraine. It was a job for a younger man, he said. In six months, I lost over 50 pounds.

He eventually got a better job, as a machinist at the Dayton-Phoenix Group, which makes electrical engines for locomotives. But he hasnt recovered the lost ground: Pay tops out at $22 an hour. Life seems somehow more precarious. Last May, when tornadoes coursed through town, taking the roof and walls of the Dayton-Phoenix plant with them, he feared he would be laid off. Luckily, he says, that didnt happen.

Shawn Hoskins, right, having a beer with colleagues after work this month.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

Tornadoes last year pummeled homes and other buildings in Dayton, including the Dayton-Phoenix plant where Mr. Hoskins works, left. The company temporarily relocated production.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

In a way Mr. Hoskins feels betrayed: In the face of economic insecurity, his loyalty to the union and the Democratic Party did not protect him. And the Republicans were an increasingly attractive alternative.

He says he thought Mr. Romney could do a better job than President Barack Obama in reviving the economy after the recession. He says he likes the fact that Mr. Trump is a businessman. He criticizes Democrats for embracing higher taxes and blasts the hefty insurance premiums he was forced to pay under the Affordable Care Act.

But at the end of the day, when it came time for the doors to shut at G.M., the Democrats werent looking out for me, Mr. Hoskins said. Losing my job opened my eyes. I had to pay attention to other things going on in the world.

Dean Lacy, a political scientist at Dartmouth College, traces Americas political rearrangement as far back as the emergence of Reagan Democrats in the 1980s working-class whites who switched to the Republican Party largely because of social issues like affirmative action and abortion. But he also notes that to the Democrats old working-class base, the Clinton administrations embrace of international trade eventually felt like a sellout.

At the same time, the Democratic Party increasingly presented itself as the vanguard of a knowledge economy premised on the advent of a postindustrial age. That new order held rewards for the well educated, but little future for the manufacturing jobs that had long been a path to economic security.

It is not one cause but a series of events that have moved the Democratic Party to win white college-educated voters that might have voted for the Republican Party 30 years ago, Professor Lacy said. But many of those voters felt they had lost an economic champion, he said. They dont know who is on their side on economic issues, so they look for who is on their side on guns and other cultural issues, he added.

As blue-collar union jobs disappeared, the institutional glue that unions provided, tying the party to the working class, lost its hold.

To white workers like Mr. Hoskins anxious over their loss of economic and social status, and eager to hear fighting words on their behalf, Mr. Trump an unusual Republican with a populist message was an ally.

To be sure, there are voters in both thriving and depressed areas, and of all races, whose decisions this year will be shaped by factors other than the economy, including Mr. Trumps divisive governing style and the Democrats ability to articulate a case for change.

Daytons Democratic mayor, Nan Whaley, resists the argument that Ohio has lost its position as a swing state and been driven irrevocably into the G.O.P.s embrace.

I dont think Ohio is solidly red, she said. But she agrees that voters behavior is driven by frustration over their economic plight. They voted for Obama because they wanted to set the house on fire, she said. They voted for Trump because they wanted to set the house on fire.

Still, frustrated workers on the losing side of change no longer seem to trust Democrats to be their champions.

A Trump campaign flag outside a Dayton home this month.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

There were a lot of union votes that did flip, acknowledged Stacey Benson-Taylor, Dayton regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Thats kind of hard to explain.

Phil Plummer, the Montgomery County Republican chairman, argues that a lot of union people switched to the Republican Party because they felt the Democrats had left them. Ms. Klein of Co-op Dayton put it this way: Dayton consistently showed up for Democrats, and Democrats didnt show up for Dayton.

Will Minehart, 45, votes Democratic, though his job as a machinist at Dayton-Phoenix pays $4 an hour less than he was making at G.M. in 2000. His party loyalty, however, is not unconditional. I am not a Republican nor a Democrat, he said. Im working class.

Its not just white voters who feel disaffected. Quincy E. Pope Sr., the city manager of the heavily African-American city of Trotwood, which abuts Dayton from the west, argued that though Democratic policies align more with who we are, we are not in love with them. Looser trade barriers with Canada, Mexico and China were just as big a deal for the African-American community as for white workers, he added. They affected our way of life.

Cameron Walker, who is 40 and black, doesnt have it easy making ends meet with freelance work in digital media.

Cameron Walker was long a solid Democrat, but feels there is a political deficit in both parties.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

From her first vote in 2000 for Al Gore for president, she was long a solid Democrat. But in 2016 she flipped, not to the Republican Party but to the Green Party presidential candidate, Jill Stein. You begin to see there is a political deficit in both parties, she said. Dayton is feeling the impact of economic decisions that are made not in the interests of people here.

And no matter whom the Democrats choose this year, the nominee will have a hard time replicating the excitement that drove so many African-Americans to the polls to vote for Mr. Obama. In 2016, the enthusiasm for Hillary just wasnt there, said the Rev. Perry Henderson, the pastor at First Corinthian Baptist Church, on the predominantly black west side of town. We couldnt convince them of the importance of voting. They just stayed home.

Making things more difficult for Democrats, Mr. Henderson said, is a sense of disillusionment among many African-Americans after President Obamas two terms. They expected so much would be accomplished under Obama, and it wasnt, he said.

Congregants at First Corinthian Baptist Church, whose pastor says it will be hard for Democrats to stir the enthusiasm and turnout that Barack Obama's candidacy produced.Andrew Spear for The New York Times

Dayton is now doing a little better. The average wage in Montgomery County was hovering around $24 a week in the second quarter of the year, still a long way from the $30 an hour of Mr. Hoskinss G.M. past. Still, there are certainly more jobs. In November, the jobless rate was 3.8 percent, only slightly higher than the national average.

Chris Shaw, a city commissioner, is hopeful that Democrats traditional voters are ready to return to the fold. Folks are going to start to appreciate that theyve been fed a bill of goods, he said.

And yet the forces pulling places like Dayton into the Republican column are persistent, delivering prosperity to a narrow set of superstar cities and bypassing much of the country. Referring to the economic lift provided by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Mr. Minehart said, If it werent for the Air Force base, Dayton would be another Flint.

Mr. Minehart is heavily involved in local voter-turnout efforts by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. He is kind of leaning toward Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is running on the left of the Democratic presidential field. Still, he argues, none of the candidates know what real people go through.

As for Mr. Hoskins, the Democrats have lost him for good. I hope Trump keeps rolling on, he said.

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How the G.O.P. Became the Party of the Left Behind - The New York Times

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Senate trial of President Donald Trump is proving less Soviet than expected. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the House impeachment manager, last week presented a coherent, damning and often eloquent narrative of Trumps guilt, backed by text messages, emails, letters and sworn witness testimony previously delivered to the House.

As my colleague Jonathan Bernstein points out, the weight of such facts can alter political gravity. Even Republicans who have made up their minds to acquit which almost certainly describes the entire GOP caucus have had to sit through the avalanche of evidence. Surely it weighs on at least a few consciences. Meanwhile, writes New York magazines Jonathan Chait, ignoring the facts carries risks of its own: The impeachment trial is an exercise in displaying the Republican Partys institutional culpability in Trumps contempt for the rule of law. At some point, they will have to decide to damn the president or to damn themselves.

Its a foregone conclusion: Republican senators will damn themselves to infinity and beyond. The question isnt what Republican senators will decide next week, but where the Republican Party will go after Trumps acquittal. That answer, too, is alarmingly clear: further downward. From 1994 to 2015, give or take, the party was tumbling down a slippery slope. Since 2016, Republicans have been falling at 32 feet per second squared.

Acquitting Trump is not the same as shrugging at the presidents venality and vindictiveness, or mumbling and walking away when a reporter asks whether you believe its OK to solicit foreign sabotage of a U.S. election. Acquitting Trump is a bold, affirmative act.

The acquittal will mark the senators as political made men. It will be their induction into Trumps gangster ethos, using constitutional powers to enable corruption. For those who have hovered on the periphery of Trumps political gangland, there is no route back to innocence.

Many long ago crossed that Rubicon, proclaiming their fealty tothe chosen one. But acquittal will transform even the most reticent Republicans into conspirators against democracy and rule of law.

It will not be long before they are called upon to defend the indefensible again. And they will do it, acquiescing to the next figurative or literal crime just as they did to Trumps videotaped boast of sexual assaults, his horrifying sellouts to Russian President Vladimir Putin, his personal use of charitable contributions intended for veterans, his brutality toward children, or hisquotidian blitzes against decency and democracy.

Schiffs repeated use of the word cheat to describe Trumps posture toward U.S. elections was less an accounting of past performance than a guarantee of future results. No one is really making the argument, Donald Trump would never do such a thing, because of course we know that he would, and of course we know that he did, Schiff told the Senate last week. Hell do it now. Hes done it before. Hell do it for the next several months. Hell do it in the election if hes allowed to.

Whether the game is golf or politics or business, Trump cheats. On trial for seeking foreign interference in the 2020 election, after having been the beneficiary of foreign interference in the 2016 election, Trump will find many willing accomplices before November. His presidency is a strategic boon to multiple U.S. adversaries, most prominently Putin. Another modest investment in Trumps presidency could yield an even larger return destroying, for a generation or more, American democracy not only as a vehicle of ethical government but also as a protector (aspirationallyif not always actually) of human dignity.

This is not cynicism. Its the reality of U.S. politics in 2020. Acquitting Trump will destroy whats left of the Republican Partys claims to ethical legitimacy and pave the way for the further erosion of democracy. The only question that remains is how much more corruption the non-MAGA majority of Americans is willing to take.

To contact the author of this story: Francis Wilkinson at fwilkinson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Francis Wilkinson writes editorials on politics and U.S. domestic policy for Bloomberg Opinion. He was executive editor of the Week. He was previously a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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After Trumps Acquittal, It Will Only Get Worse for Republicans - Yahoo News

In an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell, Congressman Mark Meadows said there would be repercussions if Republicans break with President Donald Trump on impeachment. O'Donnell sat down with impeachment defense surrogates Representatives Meadows, Doug Collins, Elise Stefanik and Debbie Lesko.

"Do you think Republican senators face political repercussions if they break with the president?" O'Donnell asked.

"Yeah, I do. I mean listen, I don't wanna speak for my Senate colleagues. But there are always political repercussions for every vote you take. There is no vote that is higher profile than this," Meadows said Monday.

Collins said the question "needs to be flipped."

"Where is a courageous Democrat who will actually look at the facts and vote in favor of not impeaching this president?" Collins asked.

"My question is: Where is a Democrat who will actually look at the facts and not simply follow behind Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff and Chuck Schumer, or their presidential candidates who are sitting in the jury pool, and follow them?"

O'Donnell also asked about Republican senators who may vote to call witnesses, and whether they would face political consequences for doing so.

"I think this witness question... is a very important one," Stefanik said. "Oftentimes, we're asked over 50% of the American people want the-- us to call witness. That doesn't just mean John Bolton. That means the whistleblower. That means Hunter Biden. And it really opens up challenges for the Democrats."

Watch more of O'Donnell's interview with Meadows, Collins, Stefanik and Lesko on the "CBS Evening News," Monday, January 27 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Meadows says Senate Republicans would face "political repercussions" for breaking with Trump during trial - CBS News

WASHINGTON Key House Republicans have introduced a bill that would bar U.S. intelligence sharing with countries that allow telecom giant Huawei in their next-generation wireless networks.

The Jan. 27 bill would potentially downgrade Americas special relationship with the U.K., which is reportedly expected to grant Huawei some access to its nascent 5G network. Such a move by London would be a loss for the Trump administration, which has aggressively campaigned against the company, arguing Chinese governments links to the firm mean it poses an espionage threat. (Huawei denies the allegations.)

I think that if they make that decision that they have Huawei in their 5G, then we have to recalculate and reassess whether or not they can continue to be among our closest intel partners, Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the bills sponsors and the No. 3 Republican in the House, told reporters Monday.

I would urge the administration to go through and look at that. I think it would fundamentally alter the relationship we have with the U.K., if the U.K. adopts Huawei in its 5G network.

As Washington works to maintain Americas technological edge against China, it has been wrestling with just how to shape the role that Huawei is playing in developing 5G networks worldwide. Several China critics on Monday Cheney, Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. met with reporters to argue the lure of cheap telecom equipment, subsidized by the Chinese government, is not worth the risk of Beijing gaining access to the vast amounts of data that would travel over nations new networks.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to decide as soon as this week whether to abide public and private warnings from President Donald Trump and other American officials. Johnson has, according to the Financial Times, been looking at imposing a market share cap on Huawei, which would allow it to provide non-core telecom gear, like the antennas and base stations seen on rooftops.

In Germany, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, Berlins top security official, was quoted Jan. 25 as saying Germany must be protected against espionage and sabotage, but estimated that shutting out Chinese providers could delay building the new network by five to 10 years.

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I dont see that we can set up a 5G network in Germany in the short term without participation by Huawei, Seehofer told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The Trump administration itself is struggling to decide how far to go with its restrictions on Huawei, which is already on a U.S. export blacklist. The Defense Department objected to a proposed change to Commerce Department regulations aimed at making it more difficult for U.S. firms to sell to Huawei from overseas facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Sens. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., complained in a Jan. 24 letter to Defense Secretary March Esper, demanding a briefing and arguing the rule change would have rightfully, effectively disrupted the supply chain of the Chinese Communist Partys tech puppet.

Cheney and Banks proposed their legislation as a companion to a Senate bill Cotton introduced Jan. 8. While the new House bill adds some weight to repeated public threats from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the administration would curtail intelligence and military cooperation with countries that allow in Huawei, its unclear how far either chambers bill will go.

Were getting a growing number of interested colleagues signing onto it just because were giving the administration leverage with this legislation, Banks said, to send a signal to our allies that theyre making a grave mistake in compromising their data and potentially our national security and related intelligence data, if they choose Huawei.

Though Banks, the lead sponsor of the House bill, predicted Monday it would attract bipartisan support, even some key Republicans were unprepared to take such a hard line against the U.K., a member of the Five Eyes intelligence network which also includes the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Lets wait until they make the decision and see what the decision is, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said Monday of lead British officials. Our intelligence sharing, not only with Great Britain, but the Five Eyes, and a handful of others is really critical. Theyre dovetailed together, and theyre really important.

In the Senate, a separate legislative proposal would dedicate $1 billion to spur the development of Western-based alternatives to Chinese telecom equipment. Its sponsored by Rubio, as well as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Ranking Member Mark Warner, D-Va.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and John Cornyn, R-Tex.

Weve been saying, Dont buy Huawei, but we havent been offering a broad-based Western-financed alternative, Warner said Monday.

Warner hinted he would not favor a change in the intelligence relationship with the U.K.: I think the British are our longest, best ally and a great, great partner. I dont think Im going to make those kinds of threats."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Key Republicans seek ban on intel sharing with countries that use Huawei - C4ISRNet

For all his cognitive deficits, blistering ignorance, and unsubtle grifting, Donald Trump excels in one area: spectacle. No Democrat on the political scene can rival him in the creation of monstrous shitshows, cringetastrophies, and dear-God-is-it-time-for-Dad-to-go-to-managed-care moments of pure Gantryesque spectacle.

All of the cultural divides, political tribalism, and ideologically segregated media silos that made Trumpism possible are now converging in a fast-approaching singular moment of political danger for this nation, when a handful of senators will be required to make the most fateful decision of their lives.

They will almost certainly fail that test, and the nationthe rigged rules that Mitch McConnell introduced Monday eliminated any remaining doubt about that. Yet Democrats, as they so often do, believe this trial against Trump will be waged and won on facts, reason, honor, and the power of institutions to hold the line against corruption, criminality, and chaos.

But Republicans are planning a show, not a trial. The sooner Democrats start realizing this, the better off theyll be.

Trumps legal team, including not one but two of Jeffrey Epsteins defenders, wasnt selected on the basis of academic prowess, knowledge, or experience, but notoriety and willingness to work for this unapologetic criminal. Its biggest names are representing Trump not in spite of but because of the fact that they are flashy media characters.

The Democrats will need to show not only expertise on the subject matter at hand, but some passion and fire in the course of this. Theyll need to bring more energy and direction to the floor of the Senate. Trump and McConnell arent hiding their cards: Rules are for suckers; dignity is for marks; and this is a bar fight, not a debating society.

Republican senators are following the Donalds and the Turtles lead, treating the impeachment proceedings not as the forum for answers and accountability that Americans are after, but as a stunt. Martha McSally, who seems determined to go down in flames in purple Arizona, gave away the game when she tried to convert her entirely affected burst of snippy temper at CNNs Manu Raju into a fundraising blitz. Ted Cruz, looking for all the world like the cumulative result of cascading replication errors from cloning Wolverine too many times, is putting out drama-queen performative fan club videos for Trump. Why not burn down the Republic in defense of Trump and make some sweet email-marketing bank off it?

Democrats should stop falling for the stupid bluff, and the calls to put Hunter Biden and Adam Schiff on the stand. The White House and McConnell really dont want to open the door to witnesses, and this is a see-through intimidation tactic and attempt to shift the trials focus away from, you know, the president whos been impeached for his conduct.

Republicans are seeking a circus, not solemnity, to provide base-motivating outrage fuel for the Trump campaign and Fox News. (But I repeat myself.)

As things kick off next week, expect a lot of hair-pulling, foot-stomping, outraged why-I-declare moments from the usual suspects who combine adoration of Trump with addiction to the cameras. Expect all the furrowed brows, worry, and woulda-coulda from the Squishy Six in the Senate. Expect McConnell to rule with an iron fist and race this thing in for a hard landing. Just dont expect the facts of the case to matter in the trial itself.

Democrats, you cannot shame the Senate Republicans. There are no questions that will lead them to the truth, because the absolute, corrosive corruption of Trumpdemands that they humiliate themselves with paper-thin defenses of Trumps lies and abuses of power. The Washington media model of asking questions with the presumption that theyre going to be answered in good faith has been pushed to the breaking point by the Trump era.

Sure, theyre scared of Trump out of the usual FOMT (Fear of Mean Tweets), but theyre absolutely terrified of Mitch McConnell, keeper of the National Republican Senatorial Committee purse, and a right bastard if crossed by members of his own caucus.

No amount of editorial pressure from hometown papers will move them one inch.Letters to their offices will be shredded. Emails will be ignored. Unless their constituents are in their offices, and in their faces in huge numbers, they intendto simply wait until Mitch blows the final bugle and puts the impeachment proceedings into the ground.

The only chance to bring around even the Susan Collinses of the GOP is to increase the pain, raise the ad volume to ear-splitting and bombard their districts with shock-and-awe-level media firepower. You cant shame them, but you can scare them.

Theres just one thing that scares them, and McConnell: money.

Its too bad Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are burning mountains of it on bonfires of their own vanity because the one thing that McConnell and the GOP Senate caucus do understand is television, cable, and digital ad buys hammering them, hard, over protecting Donald Trumps corrupt criminal enterprise.

Some outside groups are in the game (Im a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, one of the groups active in this fight), but until the ads are so hot and heavy that GOP senators want to kick in the screen and enter Witness Protection, McConnell will hold them firmly in check for Trumps benefit.

The purpose of hitting these Republicans with paid media, grassroots contact, and other pressure isnt only to change their votes on the impeachment questions of witnesses, testimony, and other evidence.

Its also because the safest bet in Washington is that when theres one layer of a Trump scandal, theres more. Facts about the Ukraine deal will come out, drip drip drip, for the rest of this election year and beyond. Thats been the entire history of this administration. Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, Thom Tillis, Martha McSally, and the rest are making a terrible, stupid bet if they think that once they acquit Trump in the Senate, the story is over.

In Trumpworld, it never gets better. It never produces exoneration, only more evidence of guilt. The only easy day was yesterday.There will always be another story, another scandal, another member of the weird group of Trump clingers and hangers-on involved in grand and petit scams, lawbreaking, and scumbaggery.

Its happening even as I write this, with the explosive Parnas information. None of the new revelations will appear on the floor of the Senate if Mitch McConnell chokes them out, but those revelations will become fodder for a hundred attack ads against Trumps cronies.

They may let Trump skate, but theyll take the hit for covering up his guilt and joining his ongoing criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice. He wont give half a damn about any of them.

Why Democrats and outside interest groups aligned with them cant internalize this simple strategy is beyond me. Every single one of Trumps lackeys up for re-election in 2020 needs to come homeunder continuous and withering media assault across all channels.

The Trump Suicide Squad in the Senate is ready to cripple itself to keep him standing. Whats at stake in this impeachment isnt simply the fate of Donald Trump. Their overtly political decision to wreck the impeachment process will permanently alter the balance of governmental power.

The GOP has for too long been too eager to put too much power in the hands of the president, but AG Bill Barr and Trumps tiny-handed grab at executive power is so expansive, so dangerous, and so eminent that when this is over, Congress will be reduced to a talking-shop with no true law-making function and barely any budget authority. After all, the GOP has already laughed off the GAO report that explicitly outlines the illegal nature of the Trump administrations withholding of aid to Ukraine. Democrats havent used their power to enforce oversight and accountability by letting the White House middle-finger them every day.

House Democrats arent helping here either. Theyve let Trump cover up the crimes of his hoods, thugs, and cronies by successfully cockblocking testimony, document production, and cooperation by stonewalling the House of Representatives, with absolutely zero legal consequences.

We are well past the point where the Constitution or the rule of law matter to Republicans. They know they are close to a victory that will exonerate a guilty man, and they give zero fucks in that regard.

But they will. History doesnt just operate with a kind of karmic justice, but also with a kind of profound ironic sensibility. Defending Donald Trumps corruption and criminality will lead the GOP to a place in history as footnotes, as patsies, as stooges laughably committed to a man who they damn well knew was guilty. No one remembers the defenders of Nixon, or Grant, or any other corrupt leader as anything but petty henches.

Trump may avoid the judgment he deserves, but the senators will not.

Ive taught this lesson a hundred times, but its going to take more, apparently, for it to sink in.Nixons Republican defenders were blown out in 1974. Why? They defended what the public rightly saw as corruption. In 1994, a Democratic speaker of the House lost his seat and his majority when it was clear he was a party to ascandal with the House Bank and House Post Office. Corruption kills, and it kills its defenders as thoroughly as the ones engaged in it.

Watergate was small-ball compared to whats happening in Washington right now. Bill Clintons impeachment was a footnote compared to the roaring bonfire of abuse of power, corruption, criminality, and chaos caused by this president.

The GOP will be judged harshly by history because they know better. Republican senators, despite the pressure from Trump and McConnell, know exactly who Trump is. They know what Trump is. They know hes a con man, a criminal, a character of the weakest and loosest moral fiber. They know hes a faithless, feckless, foolish man driven by ego, spite, and avarice.

Their campaigns will be miserably harder because theyre willing stooges, but thats just the start.

The conceits that GOP senators hold in their minds are astonishing.First, if they believe that Trump voters will thank them in some way, theyre not paying attention.Trump voters hate everyone except Trump. No points for being a bootlick, especially if the senator evereversaid a cross word about Trump; just ask former golden boy Matt Gaetz.

Republicans may well win this stacked trial in the Senate, but they have done themselves in.

Being thrown out of office stings, but becoming a punchline in political history, a footnote, a joke at best, is the deepest cut. Being held up in American object lessons in cowardice, failure, and disgrace is whats coming.

They swore an oath on the floor of the Senate on Thursday that they intended to break from the very beginning.

They knew the moment they stepped before the clerk and signed that they were already compromised, already done, already preparing your betrayal. As they race to exonerate a guilty president, besmirch the character of the Senate, and shame themselves as leaders, perhaps they can find some small consolation in knowing that the ratings of this reality show will be historic.

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Republican Senators May Save Trump, but Trump has Already F*cked Them - The Daily Beast