National Review, a conservative outlet known in part for its 2016 stance against the election of then-candidate Donald Trump, came out swinging against the behavior of Senate Republicans in a Thursday editorial called “Impeachment Doesn’t Require a Crime.”
“Instead of sticking to the most defensible case for a Senate acquittal of Trump, Republicans from the president on down are making arguments that range from the implausible to the embarrassing,” the article states.
The National Review goes to accuse Republicans of holding reasonable opinions on President Trump’s actions behind closed doors, but bowing to his “obstinacy” and keeping quiet in public.
“Hence the claim now being advanced half-heartedly by Republicans that presidents cannot be impeached for any abuse of power unless that abuse took the form of a criminal violation of a statute,” it continues. “The consensus of those who have studied this question is to the contrary. ”
Criticism of Republican handling of Trump’s impeachment trial — and his presidency overall — is nothing new. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, has regularly lobbed objections at the party’s leaders and elected members.
However, the National Review argues that Republicans are correct in their quiet belief that the impeachment doesn’t matter as much because voters will have the chance to re-elect or decline to re-elect Trump in November.
“It’s a reasonable position, and it’s the case that Republicans ought to make in public,” the editorial says.