(CNN) It's a scene that's often depicted in Hollywood films: The bully picks on a smaller target and manages to paralyze everyone with fear. Then one day, a punch from an unexpected character draws blood. The bully's vulnerability becomes apparent and suddenly all those who trembled join to fight their former tormentor. Feared but not loved, the bully is vanquished.

Michael D'Antonio

In politics, as in Hollywood, those who'd rather pick a fight than compromise -- or, in Donald Trump's case, act with basic decency -- create the conditions for their own downfall. After Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry, there were early signs of the President's weakness. While the knockout punch has not been delivered, Republicans who were previously staunch allies began to waver.

On Friday, former Sen. Jeff Flake told NPR that at least 35 GOP Senators would support impeaching Trump if they were allowed to vote in secret. "Anybody who has sat through two years, as I have, of Republican luncheons realizes that there's not a lot of love for the President. There's a lot of fear of what it means to go against the President, but most Republican senators would not like to be dealing with this for another year or another five years," he said. Added to Democratic votes, Flake's estimate of 35 Republicans would make for the two-thirds majority required to remove Trump from office.

As Flake suggests, Republican officials may fear Trump but they do not like him. Consider the President's penchant for insults and demeaning nicknames and it's easy to agree with Flake's logic. Remember that then-candidate Trump mocked and disparaged Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted" and you'll understand why they might have little sympathy for him now.

Trump's vulnerability was in clear view when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allowed the upper chamber to vote on a resolution urging the Trump administration to turn over the whistleblower complaint to Congress. The resolution passed unanimously in the GOP-controlled Senate.