Casual Observation

Here’s a fascinating roll call.

7 Comments

Havertownian on February 1, 2019 at 8:00 am

Interesting, only 3 R Nays, but 20 D Nays.

So,

Cruz is an invertebrate
Mike Lee, Udall, Widen etc are principled in their anti-interventionism and don’t care to put their names to defending Forever War
All the D 2020 candidates say Nay, to

a) avoid taking an unnecessary stand on our foreign entanglements,
b) not appear to agree to a precedent of a R Senate poking its nose into the business of the President’s foreign policy.
c) to act as a block so that this doesn’t become a chink that R’s use to pry the D candidates apart WRT DT

centerfielddj on February 1, 2019 at 9:26 am

What’s most significant to me about this vote is those 20 Republican Senators who broke with President Trump. It’s good for them to begin getting used to voting against Trump. 20 Senators from the Republican Caucus would be more than enough to defeat Trump in an impeachment trial.

There are definitely not a sufficient number of GOP Senators to impeach Trump now, but if the House gets to a place where they have received and revealed enough information about Trump’s wrongdoings to successfully move an impeachment, then there will be a lot more for those Senators to chew on.

scottso on February 1, 2019 at 11:12 am

What the…?!

19 Dems, including most of the most liberal ones, just voted to support Trump’s position on a resolution? Along with Ted Cruz and Mike Lee??

While most of the rest of the GOP, and the remaining (largely more moderate) Dems, voted against Trump’s position??

Martin, if you wrote a piece on this vote, I’d welcome it. I can’t figure out WTF this roll call means.

marduk on February 1, 2019 at 11:41 am

Despite the fact that Trump’s withdrawal plans are cack-handed and done in the worst possible manner, the Dems likely to run for president or position themselves to the left of the party median don’t want to be on record supporting our current military commitments abroad. And of course you could make the argument that even a terribly executed, stupid withdrawal is still a withdrawal which all else being equal is preferable to an open-ended commitment.

In some ways it’s sort of a mirror-image version of the Dems who supported the resolution to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq, only the cynical political calculation is reversed.
Anonymous on February 1, 2019 at 11:42 am

All the most probably 2020 nominees votes Nay, right? When I first clicked the link, I thought the vote was going to show 68 senators voting against Trump, Republican divided in such a way as to make impeachment a possibility.

Instead, it’s Dems In Disarray!

I suspect that this vote was seen as ‘are you in favorite of the forever war and permanent occupation,’ no?