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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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In 2016, there were 13 Republican Senators who openly opposed Donald Trump’s candidacy for the President.  Five of them are now gone- Kelly Ayotte (NH), Jeff Flake (AZ), Dean Heller (NV), Mark Kirk (IL), and John McCain (AZ).  That leaves eight who are still Senators: Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner (CO), Lindsey Graham (SC), Mike Lee (UT), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Rob Portman (OH), Ben Sasse (NE), and Dan Sullivan (AK).  Of the current lot besides the eight listed, we can probably add the name Mitt Romney of Utah.

Assuming they were all still anti-Trump, that would make 62 Senators who would vote for the removal of Trump should (1) Twitchy Pelosi ever send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, and (2) all the Democrats vote for removal from office.  This obviously leaves the Democrats a few votes short, but it is academic anyway because (1) Pelosi is sitting on the articles, (2) the charges and process is bogus from the start, and most importantly (3) those 8-9 listed Republicans are not going to vote to remove Trump from office.

It is not as if they believe that Donald Trump is Lord Master of the Universe and the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Their reasons for opposing Trump in 2016 were based on mistrust of his conservative credentials and his tone.  As for the tone, everyone, including the occasional virtue signals offered forth from the tongues of Ben Sasse and Mitt Romney, is rather used to it by now.  No amount of criticism of Trump’s tone and rhetoric is going to change him and, quite frankly, America is all the much better for it.  He may not be a smooth communicator like Reagan, but he does not shy from a fight and speaks his mind which this writer finds rather refreshing.  Perhaps they all realize by now that Trump is not some smooth politician who wallows in the niceties of DC politics (again, a good thing).

Regarding his “conservatism,” one can only look at his actions, not his past comments or actions.  He is the most pro-life President since Reagan, perhaps more so in rhetoric and action.  He is literally remaking the federal judiciary.  He has relaxed onerous Obama-era regulations, lowered taxes, etc.  He has defended the Second Amendment and religious liberty.  From a conservative’s standpoint, there is nothing to dislike about Trump thus far and one hopes he continues on this path in a second term.

Except for perhaps Romney who holds out a contempt for Trump based on jealousy, aspiration or a potent combination of both, and Lisa Murkowski who should just find an igloo and retire, why won’t those others vote for removal from office?  The reason is Brett Kavanaugh.

If there was one event that triggered the slumbering synapses of the NeverTrump Republican Senator, it was the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.  To recap, before the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote to send his name to the full Senate to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, the Democrats threw a monkey wrench into the operation in the name of Christine Blasey Ford.  Her accusations of what amounts to rape against Kavanaugh was the breaking point for many a hold-out Republican in the Senate.

It was Lindsey Graham’s impassioned speech in the Senate Judiciary Committee that set the tone when he essentially noted that the charges were bulls$#@.  This writer honestly believes that in the mind of Graham, something flicked in his brain and he finally realized what Trump, conservatives, the GOP and America itself was up against: a Democrat Party and American Left so devoid of principle and ethics that they would stoop to accusing a Supreme Court nominee of a crime perhaps worse than murder to many.  The fact they would use a damaged woman, who suffered some sort of trauma in her past most likely NOT involving Brett Kavanaugh, as a tool to thwart Trump was a breaking point for many.

Since that seminal event, the following is revealed regarding those Senators who opposed Trump in 2016 and Mittens in terms of agreeing with Trump’s position in roll call votes in the Senate:

1. Susan Collins- 66.4%;
2. Cory Gardner- 89.1%;
3. Rob Portman- 91.1%;
4. Dan Sullivan- 91.6%;
5. Lindsey Graham- 87.0%;
6. Mitt Romney- 79.3%;
7. Ben Sasse- 86.4%;
8. Lisa Murkowski- 74.3%, and;
9. Mike Lee- 74.1%.

That leaves only Collins, Romney, Murkowski and Lee with percentages under 85% agreement with the Trump agenda.  Regardless, as concerns this subject, it was Susan Collins’ vote for Kavanaugh that sealed the deal.   She was privy to vulgar threats and actual death threats that resulted in prosecution for her stand on the Kavanaugh vote.  If anyone should understand the depths to which the Left will stoop, it should be Susan Collins.  Nothing says lower- although they never cease to surprise- than impeachment over bogus charges the result of a bogus process.

As for Mike Lee, he may be somewhat anti-Trump, but he is not stupid.  Even someone who some here at Redstate believe would make a great Supreme Court Justice one day can see what a sham impeachment is in the end.  Murkoswki is a lost case and Romney is… well, Romney still wallowing in the fact that he lost to Obama in 2012 and Trump achieved what he could not.  Perhaps, he will adopt another alter-ego and go pen articles about “muh-principles” for The Bulwark.  Incidentally, the silence from Ben Sasse of late has been deafening (thankfully) and Lindsey Graham seems on a mission to expose the corruption and real quid pro quo whether Biden is the nominee or not.  Will the Democrats accuse him of soliciting foreign interference in an American election if he sticks to it?  I can’t wait for his response.

The rest on that list are in the Trump camp.

The Democrats cashed in all their chips when they trotted out a tool with false accusations of a sexual assault against a Supreme Court nominee.  If anyone did not see what the Left and Democrats (but I repeat myself) are capable of, they are fools… or their last name is Romney or Murkowski.