(Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

When newly-re elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that impeaching President Donald Trump was off the table, I was enraged. I thought this was another example of spineless Democrats bringing a negotiator to a gunfight. However, after a second look at the situation, I realized she was right. You need a two-thirds vote to secure impeachment in the Senate and the Republicans still have a majority. The only way Democrats could secure a conviction is if some Republicans turned on Trump. And right now, I don’t see that happening.

Republicans threw their weight behind the morally bankrupt Trump back in 2016, even when they knew about his shady background and ties to Russia. They figured Trump’s name recognition and fame would lead them to a tax-cutting, social welfare-program slashing heaven. Basically, they sold their souls and I also suspect many of them were swayed by Russian kompromat and money.

How else can you explain the behavior of people like Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul? Graham was a fierce opponent of Trump during the primaries. Trump even released his phone number to the public. But now Graham is vying for the position of no.1 Trump toady.

Paul is equally baffling. Before the Trump era, Paul was a libertarian who wanted America to stay out of foreign entanglements and even expressed sympathy for black Americans, who were victims of the Drug War. But he traipsed over to Russia to kiss Vladimir Putin’s ring and praised Trump.

It’s not just Paul and Graham, I believe the rot goes much deeper. Russian operative Maria Butina, an admitted spy, was sent to the U.S. on a mission to penetrate (no pun intended) right-wing circles. And she did it perfectly. She took on a Republican operative Paul Erickson as a lover, was pictured with several Republican politicians, organized tours of Russia and set up a link between Russia and the NRA, even though guns are largely banned in her homeland! The NRA later funneled $30 million to the Trump campaign. It hasn’t been proven how much of that money came from Russia.

In addition, Sen. Mitch McConnell refused to sign off on President Barack Obama going public with news about Russian hacking efforts when they were first discovered in 2016. And to top that, outgoing fossil, Sen. Orrin Hatch, recently made a Freudian slip when he said he didn’t care what Trump had done in the past. (He later walked that back.) This shows that Republicans are still willing to tolerate Trump’s crimes.

But now Trump is being hit with multiple scandals at once. Almost every organization he has been involved is under Democratic investigation. These investigations are only going to reveal more damning information.

Some pundits have suggested that beleaguered Republicans will eventually turn on Trump and the cracks are beginning to show. The midterm elections gave Democrats the largest electoral victory in 40 years and even right-wing propaganda network FOX News is slowly turning against the president. FOX News legal expert Judge Anthony Napolitano regularly says Trump has committed felonies.

But will Senate Republicans turn on the president? I don’t think we’re there yet. They’ve shown they’re okay with Trump’s womanizing, racism, human rights abuse, treason, financial crimes and buffoonish behavior. And other Republicans, drunk on right-wing kool aid, are still happy with Trump. A recent CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll revealed that 67 percent of Iowa Republicans would vote for Trump if the election was held today!

In addition, Republican politicians know that when Trump eventually goes down he’s going to take several of them with him. To paraphrase the old political adage, it’s going to take a live boy or a dead girl to sink the president. And right now, we don’t have either of those — yet.