海角大神

Dear reader:
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听Former President Donald Trump鈥檚 just-concluded second impeachment and trial have been dubbed the most 鈥渂ipartisan鈥� in American history. Indeed, 10 Republicans joined all House Democrats in voting to impeach and seven Senate Republicans joined all the chamber鈥檚 Democrats in voting to convict.
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听But that superlative must be qualified. Only two other U.S. presidents have been impeached. And President Richard Nixon isn鈥檛 one of them. If he hadn鈥檛 resigned, engulfed by Watergate and under pressure from major congressional Republicans, Congress would surely have thrown him out of office in bipartisan fashion.
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听What鈥檚 more, many in the small but significant club of Republicans who voted against Mr. Trump have already seen their political fortunes hit the rocks. Many have been censured by their state Republican parties and county GOP committees. Most of the seven senators are largely shielded from repercussions, either because they just won reelection or are retiring in two years.
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听Then there鈥檚 Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to acquit (citing constitutional reasons) but made clear his disgust with Mr. Trump both on the Senate floor and in a Wall Street Journal oped. Yesterday, the former president replied with a takedown of Senator McConnell 鈥� a master political operator who just easily won reelection. The Trump-McConnell battle royale will continue in other ways, just not among voters and party committees, for now.
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听Within the House GOP pro-impeach 鈥渃aucus,鈥� some are facing major blowback 鈥� not just censure, but also early primary challengers in the 2022 midterms. Most prominent among those in trouble are Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Congresswoman Cheney鈥檚 woes are noteworthy, a., because she鈥檚 the No. 3 Republican in the House, and b., because she鈥檚 a Cheney.
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听Both of these House members are already being primaried, and in Congressman Kinzinger鈥檚 case, there鈥檚 family trouble to boot.
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听鈥淵ou have embarrassed the Kinzinger family name!鈥� 11 of his relatives wrote to him in a Jan. 8 letter, published this week in The New York Times.
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听Mr. Kinzinger is undaunted. In late January, he set up a political action committee aimed at challenging the Trump wing of the GOP 鈥� which, as I wrote last week, represents a majority of the party. It may be hard to believe that Mr. Kinzinger 鈥� an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan 鈥� was a 鈥渟tar of the 2010 tea party class鈥� in Congress. But thus have the Republican Party and some of its elected officials evolved.
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听Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is another interesting case 鈥� the only one of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict who鈥檚 up for reelection in 2022. Mr. Trump has promised to campaign against her.
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听But as Jessica Taylor of The Cook Political Report points out, Senator Murkowski may be shielded a bit, unlike in 2010, when she lost her primary to a tea party favorite, then won reelection as a write-in. This time, Ms. Taylor explains, the state is switching to a 鈥渢op-four鈥� primary, in which the top four vote-getters appear on the November ballot, regardless of party. 鈥淩anked-choice voting鈥� will be used in the general, in case nobody wins a majority.
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听Ms. Murkowski is a centrist, the kind of senator President Joe Biden likes to talk to. And like Ms. Cheney, she鈥檚 political royalty back home 鈥� the daughter of former Gov. and Sen. Frank Murkowski. But as recent events have shown, coming from the 鈥渞ight鈥� family sometimes isn鈥檛 enough, and can even backfire. Stay tuned.
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听Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.
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