To elaborate on what Catoblepas said, impeachment triggers the trial, which enables discovery. The Senate then brings indictments forward, and 2/3rds vote is required for a verdict of removal from office.

I want to note that this is not like normal trials where a unanimous jury is necessary.

Upon removal from office, additional investigations into criminal acts can be accomplished as they no longer hold protections of the state.

Impeachment is the first step of prosecution for elected officials, it goes to the Senate and if they’re found guilty they’ll be convicted. The Democrats will need to lure some Republicans onto their side for that though, since as impressive as their wins were they still can’t unilaterally get a 2/3rds majority vote.

Republicans do not have a short window to disavow MAGA. They were disavowed by MAGA a decade ago, and they were already fascist puppets by that point anyways, he just emboldened them.

I frankly cannot imagine how you can even be slightly willing to give them any kind of forgiveness or formalities at this point in time, it’s frankly bewildering. It’s like seeing people give handshakes to confederate soldiers in the middle of the civil war knowing fully that they just want to keep being slavers and oligarchs.

Edit: and they obviously don’t give a shit about fixing the damage!!! This has been in their plans since fucking Reagan

The outlook for the Republican party here in Texas is grim. We've a had a ton of Republicans stand up to Trump, Abbott, and Paxton over the years, and most of them were punished with derogatory smears and primary challenges. Many of those Republicans are Democrats now, and see no place for themselves in a future Republican party.

Look no further than Don Huffines to see the downfall of MAGA. He's taken to blaming Abbott and Paxton for the loss for "not being MAGA enough." His election watch party looked depressing as fuck and no one was buying his "they despise you, only I will fight for you" bullshit.

I don't think anyone would be like "oh that guy with the SS tattoo was being coerced into forwarding a fascist agenda, thank god he's finally able to break free"

Anything short of that shows they aren’t serious about wanting to fix the damage they helped cause.

Serious? Since when do they even have a pretense of wanting to fix that damage?

Massie pointed that out in an article I read and also pointed out his is impeachment lite, once the D's are in control. of the House, its very likely they go in much much harder if this hasn't been dealt with. I assume that was an attempt to encourage his fellow GOP-ers :) to get on board.

Maisse isn't in the next congress, that's why he's doing it now.

But yeah, if it doesn't pass now it almost certainly will in two months.

He didn't wait. Massie's interesting

• No AIPAC funding
• 2025
  • May: rejected Big Beautiful Bill act
  • June: introduced resolution to end unauthorized hostilities in Iran
  • July: only Republican cosponsor of Epstein Files Transparency Act
• 2026
  • March: condemned the "illegal, unconstitutional, and pre-emptive war" on the House floor
  • May: introduced a bill to more tightly regulate AIPAC and other lobbyists representing foreign interests
  • May: primaried out by the administration
  • June: only Republican cosponsor of the reintroduced resolution mentioned before passed by Congress and ignored by the president
  • July: introduced Epstein Files Transparency Act II
  • September: moved onto attempting to impeach Hegseth before elections, but House Speaker Johnson adjourned the House early to preempt a vote.

One of the few Republican legislators doing anything to check the President.

He's not retiring; he lost his primary to a MAGA.

He legitimately has a shred of integrity and got punished for it.

Do unto others, I guess. He wanted a traitor shot by firing squad. War crimes probably have the same penalty. Would the Secretary have the same view for Secretaries convicted of treason?