The house Democrats got what they wanted and sent the empty impeachment charge of insurrection over to the senate. The narrowly democratic controlled body then made hay for 5 days by presenting misleading so called evidence. It all ended in a big disappointment for Speaker Pelosi, and an acquittal for the president.

Now you have the backbenchers in the Republican party saying that all of the influence Trump had will vanish. Senator Bill Cassidy who voted against the president was one of the first out of the gate:

 I think his strength is waning. The Republican Party is more than just a person. The Republican Party is about ideas. We were the party that was formed to end slavery, we were the party that kept the union, we were the party that passed the first civil rights law, we were the party that ended the Cold War. We are the party that had an economy before COVID that had record unemployment for everyone. The disabled, the high school dropout, the veteran, the woman, the black, the Hispanic, as you call it, this is the party of ideas.

Lisa Murkowski also piled on about President Trump’s future saying “I don’t see how Donald Trump could ever be re-elected to the presidency again.” And then you had Mitch McConnell’s speech after the vote to acquit. He stated that the President’s actions were “shameful” but as a private citizen, he is beyond the power of the senate.

All of the Republican never-Trumpers are taking this moment to beat their chests and get attention. Representative Kinzinger a self proclaimed Republican from Illinois is even starting a Country First PAC to “reclaim the Republican Party from conspiracy theorists” who stormed the capital.

“This is no time for silence. Not after the last month. Not after the past few years. Someone needs to tell the truth. Someone needs to say what history needs to hear. So here I am. The Republican Party has lost its way,” Kinzinger said in a six-minute video posted Sunday kicking off his “Country First” drive.

More likely, he sees the Lincoln Project falling apart and wants some of that sweet anti Trump money that those abusers raked in.

In any case, I don’t think these people realize what has actually happened. President Trump didn’t start a movement. He gave a voice to what was already there. He felt the same things that the majority of Patriotic Americans felt. He knew what to say because they were the same words we have been saying.  The fact that he had more votes than any other presidential candidate wasn’t an anomaly or an outlier. Why did he have the greatest Hispanic and Black vote in recent history? Because those people are Americans too.

They are Americans First.