@TheABC
17 Republican senators are needed for an impeachment conviction. That sounds like a tall order but it might not be as far-fetched as we think. Instead of looking for politicians "who will do the right thing", we need to be looking for people who want to keep their jobs in 2024 and consider Trump to be a liability for the party. Remember, if he is convicted, he cannot put himself forward as a candidate, leaving the field clear for a fresh face.
Republicans may not have a conscience, but they definitely have ambition.
All the big business pulling fundraisers and donations will certainly be focusing minds.
It is definitely worth considering that $ for $ the Republicans couldn't match the Dems this election. Indeed the Republican party has managed to rack up huge debts. The majority of money raised to fund the 'stop the steal' legal fees wasn't put towards anything of the sort. The small print detailed it was going elsewhere to pay off debt initally. And then Trump changed it...
I'm not too hot on the set up of this, but pre election Trump was generally funding through the GOP official channels. Post election, he set up a new SuperPac which allows more direct control and little accountability to the party itself. The money can be spent on anything seen to be connected to political activities - it can be used to basically bankroll the entire Trump clan.
www.politico.com/news/2020/12/03/trump-pac-fundraising-442775
Trump’s post-election cash grab floods funds to new PAC
Current fundraising appeals from Trump solicit money for a joint fundraising committee, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, which is directing 75 percent of each contribution to Save America, up to a $5,000 legal limit. Only after that point does money start flowing into a recount account set up by Trump’s presidential campaign. (The remaining 25 percent of donations go to various accounts for the Republican National Committee.)
I think this is worth noting actually because even if Trump is successfully impeached, I'm not 100% happens to this money or whether he can continue to do this. It can't be used for a 2024 presidential run anyway - only to influence the Republican Party and primaries. If Trump is disqualified I'm not sure how this sits with the legalities of such a fund. My suspicion is he problem isn't banned from doing this.
The Republican Party were worried about this anyway, because they fear Trump was trying to take over the entire party finances anyway. Its not entirely clear where the Republican Party begins and ends and where Trump Brand MAGA begins and ends at this point.
In the past the GOP has relied heavily on big donations from business and individual but with Trump this reduced significantly and there has been more emphasis on small donations from Trumps fanatics.
However this itself proved problematic at the end of the campaigning, with a fear that Trump starting his reelection bid in 2016 had slowly bleed a lot of small donors dry and there was nothing left to give by Nov 2020, with people feeling they had already 'done their bid'.
So there is possibly some method in Trump's 'madness' here too. As the 'election fees' fundraising has tailed off due to it being 'unsuccessful' next to non-existent or a complete sham, I'm sure donations will have started to go down. As a businessman conman trying to fund his own lifestyle post Presidency when the debt collectors are about to knock on the door and you've got huge legal bills you can't pay looming, he has to invent a new reason for supporters to donate to his cashcow. He has to radicalisal them, because they aren't wealthy. He has to invent a reason wage those on lower end (but not bottom) of the income scale, should be making regular donations to him. The whole patriotism link therefore is the perfect angle.
The GOP have a long term problem here which I'm not sure how they resolve. Financially they are screwed and the Trump Super Pac isn't helping matters. And thats even before the last week. In recent days even those who had stuck by the Party have been pulling the plug in response to events. Even if Trump CAN'T legally run this himself, I'm not sure that would stop someone else in the clan taking over and doing the same. There is clearly a significant amount of money to be scammed from White Nationalists and Nazis intent on 'Reclaiming their country'. And whilst that remains a nice little earner I think it will fuel the fanaticism that is required to drive it.
Its hard to move away from the idea that Trump won't just have a puppet he can control in someway until he is locked up without contact with the outside world or departs this life at its natural inevitable conclusion. I am not convinced that any of the Trump Clan can maintain the Brand without their father though. I think without him it will just fade without his personality. Trump could yet keep going for another 20 years or so.
There is much for the GOP to hope that someone will bump him off sooner or that he suddenly develops a grave uncurable illness. And much of that is purely for financial reasons rather than more ideological ones.