Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., listens to a question while speaking with the media after he and other Senate Republicans had a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Tuesday, June 27, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Before Christmas, claiming that it was a matter of great importance, the House of Representatives engaged in probably the most obscene act ever carried out in an institution that is no stranger to obscenities. With no planning or forethought, it launched into a Stalinist investigation of President Trump on grounds so specious that they couldn’t pass the laugh test and then carried out a perfunctory vote to impeach him. But, despite the danger that the Democrats proclaimed President Trump represented to the Republic, the Democrats then refused to either appoint “impeachment (mis)managers” or send the Articles of Impeachment to the US Senate for trial as the Constitution and House rules demand.

The reason for this was simple. Relying on the advice of a convicted felon and a law professor who is well past his intellectual prime, Nancy Pelosi decided that, by preventing the US Senate from doing something it didn’t really want to deal with, she would achieve sufficient leverage over the Senate to bend it to her will. Seriously. That’s the plan. Just hold onto the Articles of Impeachment until Mitch McConnell gives up and does what she demands. The only explanation for this that doesn’t involve rapid and severe cognitive degeneration is that she’s reading too many of Adam Schiff’s press releases and getting her news from CNN.

The process for conducting an impeachment trial is found in Senate rules and those rules can be changed. So, in reaction to this non-action, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley introduced a resolution that would permit the Senate to take up impeachment no matter if the House ever acted on it. It gives the House 25 calendar days to transmit Articles of Impeachment to the Senate; if that date is not met, the Senate can take up the matter without any involvement by the House. The measure was immediately joined by Senators Rick Scott (FL), Mike Braun (IN), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ted Cruz (TX), Steve Daines (MT), John Barrasso (WY), Tom Cotton (AR), Joni Ernst (IA), David Perdue (GA), and Jim Inhofe (OK).

There was a lot of snickering among the left/NeverTrump (at some point, we might as well stop making that distinction because it is getting nearly impossible to tell them apart) about how this resolution was dead and how it needed 67 votes to amend Senate rules. The 67 vote requirement is true…but keep in mind that this is a Senate rule and subject to parliamentary maneuvers. If you’ll recall, Senate rules also required 67 votes to change the filibuster right up to the point where they only required 51.

What started out as an effort by Senate conservatives to highlight Pelosi’s intransigence and force her to act became GOP caucus policy yesterday. Mitch McConnell signed on as a co-sponsor of the resolution.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is backing a resolution to change the Senate’s rules to allow for lawmakers to dismiss articles of impeachment against President Trump before the House sends them over. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced on Thursday that McConnell has signed on as a co-sponsor to the resolution, which he introduced earlier this week. Spokesmen for McConnell didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about his support. Changing the rules would either require a two-thirds vote or for Republicans to deploy the “nuclear” option.

My gut is that this resolution will not get voted on because Pelosi is becoming politically isolated by this lackwit stunt she’s pulled. But, if it does make it to a vote, McConnell should ensure that it passes even if it employs the so-called “nuclear option.” Impeachment cannot be degraded by a bitterly partisan and wholly unAmerican House Democrat caucus into just another tool of partisan warfare. Impeachment must be serious in all cases or it is serious in no case at all. Pelosi’s House has already taken a step towards making impeachment part of a rite of passage of any president of any party. Her refusal to carry out her Constitutional duty, unlike any action by President Trump, is a literal danger to our Republic. McConnell needs to remind her that she’s not going to be allowed to operate any way she chooses and if she ignores the Constitution that he’s under no obligation to continue to take her seriously.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This is what happens when we pivot our focus to Iran: McConnell is backing a resolution to change the Senate’s rules to allow for lawmakers to dismiss articles of impeachment against President Trump before the House sends them over. https://t.co/OGwGUHIDda — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 9, 2020