President Trump is reportedly meeting today with never-Trump Republican Senators Mitt Romney (UT) and Susan Collins (ME), at the White House ahead of the likely impeachment trial in the Senate.

Politico reports – Trump has made party solidarity a priority, often grumbling that Democrats are more unified and don’t have rogue voices like Romney. The lunches and outreach to senators in meetings and phone calls are all part of Trump’s effort to put Republican disarray behind him as his presidency is imperiled.

“He’s got a perspective on the Republican Party: That we don’t communicate very well, we don’t stick together very well. So it’s an attempt to sort of bond us,” said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). “We’re going to get through this impeachment thing, it will come to the Senate, we’ll vote it down and we’ll get on to the people’s business next year.”

The flurry of activity highlights the increasingly urgent task at hand for Trump: Making sure the GOP caucus understands his side of the Ukraine saga, not just through his tweets, but from him personally. If the 47 Democratic Caucus members stay united and vote to remove Trump from office, the president needs the support of as many of the 53 Senate Republicans as possible, both to avoid his removal from office and to keep the party from splintering ahead of his 2020 re-election bid.

When asked about meeting with President Trump today at the White House, the failed Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, responded:

“It’s the president’s meeting. Whatever he wants to talk about, he can talk about,” Romney said. “I wasn’t expecting an invitation, but I’m happy to hear what the president wants to talk about.”

On October 4th, “sour grapes” Romney, aka “Pierre Delecto,” tweeted his thoughts on the Democrat Party’s whistleblower allegations: 

When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated.

He added:

By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.

On October 5th, the liberal Republican Senator Susan Collins (ME) told the Bangor Daily News in Maine, “I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in investigating a political opponent. It’s completely inappropriate.”

Nick Schroeder | BDN

Vox reports – While it’s pretty unlikely enough Republican senators will actually vote to convict President Donald Trump if articles of impeachment are brought against him, members who represent swing states, such as Susan Collins, might feel pressure to defect due to pushback from their constituents. Others, like Mitt Romney, have vocalized opposition to the president in the past and are among the most likely to do so again.

In order for the Senate to convict the president of charges, 20 Senate Republicans would have to join with the 47-member Democratic caucus in order to reach the 67-person supermajority threshold that’s needed. Still, any breaks within the Republican conference don’t look great for Trump and help give Democrats further ammunition to use against him in the 2020 election. Trump himself is counting on Republican senators’ support, reportedly calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at frequent intervals to stress the need for GOP unity.

 

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