Republican concern over President Trump’s response to the threat of impeachment is growing and deepening, reports Politico.
The political website says it got a “stunning” note Tuesday night from “a very seasoned and well-known GOP operative … underscoring GOP alarm with how the Trump administration is handling impeachment.”
The note says Republicans in Congress and party operatives are privately concerned about the apparent “lack of urgency” in dealing with the House Democrats’ push for impeaching Trump.
“A hesitation to confront this threat with full force is forever waving a white flag,” the note says.
“There is either a failure to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation; or an inability to protect the president like they did his Supreme Court nominees with a centralized war room that has credibility with stakeholders across the party.”
Trump and his aides may view the support of Fox News pundits as a sufficient line of communication with the party he leads, the note says, “but there is deep skepticism that the late-night Fox lineup will have any credibility with rank-and-file Republicans that are necessary” to blunt the Democrats’ effort.
The author of the note writes that to win the argument, Republicans must make the case “that today’s Democratic Party and their allies in the media have planned this since Election Day 2016 and they would be moving to impeach any Republican president under any circumstances.”
Politico points to a Trump tweet Wednesday morning, as an example of the type of reaction that alarms Republicans:
“As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the……..People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!”
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 46% of voters want Congress to begin impeachment proceedings — a 3-point increase from last week — while 43% say it should not.