Impeachment Vote: A Resolute Romney Takes His Oath Seriously

Today Mitt Romney was the only Republican in the United States Senate to vote to convict and remove President Donald Trump from office. Watch his speech below for his reasoning, and/or read this interview Romney did with journalist McKay Coppins.

In essence, Romney was the only Republican member of the Senate to have what I call a "Margaret Chase-Smith Moment," a rare act of going against the "team." He will of course be trolled on social media, by all sorts of hacks and probably the president too. I wouldn't even be surprised if some Utah Trumpers launch a recall movement. Such are the times we are living in.

We're also living in a time when oaths are not really meant to be taken seriously. An oath today is more like a New Year's Resolution: a pledge that I really mean when I say it, but know deep down I probably won't keep it. And besides, who the fuck cares anyway? 

Romney today put loyalty to his oath ahead of loyalty to his team, and in the upside down country we are living in, HE will be thought as doing something strange or radical:

In the last several weeks, I have received numerous calls and texts. Many demand that, in their words, “I stand with the team.” I can assure you that that thought has been very much on my mind. I support a great deal of what the President has done. I have voted with him 80% of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented, and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke and the censure of my own conscience. 

The fact of the matter is that what is strange, or at least what ought to be perceived that way, is the manner in which Senator Romney's Republican colleagues placed their allegiance to a MAN ahead of their allegiance to the Constitution. 

History will look kindly on Romney for his action today. And he might not even have to wait that long to be vindicated. More and more information about Mr. Trump will continue to be released, and it is only a matter or time before his most vociferous defenders will be running away from their vote.  

So today we saw a resolute Mitt Romney, a man that somehow never emerged during the presidential campaign of 2012. Apparently he did not want to be a Michael Cohen; the president's now jailed former fixer who came to understand how his blind following of Mr. Trump resulted in him selling out his conscience at every turn. Cohen warned Senators of the dangers of going down that path with the president.  

Romney today was the only Republican to heed the warning. Perhaps more would have done the same if they took their oaths seriously.