Republicans can’t make up their minds on how to save Trump from impeachment

It didn’t take long after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of an impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump for the top Republican in the Senate to rally his troops. In mid-October, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell schooled his fellow GOP lawmakers on the mechanics of an impeachment process and the Senate’s role as juror and decisionmaker.

A tutorial on impeachment is the easy part for McConnell, the shrewd political operator who has battled in the Washington trenches for his entire adult life. The more difficult feat for the veteran politico is balancing the Senate’s job of being a serious jury with the Republican objective of acquitting one of their own and limiting the political damage to their vulnerable incumbents.

All of the action at the moment is in the House, where GOP members of Congress are doing their best to act as President Trump’s defence team.  If there is one thing the party has made abundantly clear during the first week of public impeachment hearings, it’s that the Republican rank-and-file have no intention of sitting quietly while the boss is accused of abusing the highest office in the land.