Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., warned his colleagues that if they support Democrats’ impeachment effort against President Donald Trump in the Senate, the Republican Party could lose millions of voters.
House Democrats voted to impeach Trump for the second time last week, but it is not clear when the House will send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Several of Trump’s Senate allies have blasted the move, but others in the Senate GOP leadership are reportedly considering supporting Trump’s conviction because they believe it will disqualify him from running again in 2024.
Going down this path, however, would doom the GOP in future elections for years to come, Paul argued.
“I don’t often get ask my advice from leadership how they should react. My unsolicited suggestion would be this: they will destroy the Republican Party if leadership is complicit with an impeachment or leadership votes for an impeachment, they will destroy the party,” Paul told Fox News.
The GOP could lose as many as one-third of current Republican voters, he continued.
“Impeachment is purely a partisan thing. It’s for these moral, ‘Oh I’m so much better than you and you’re a bad person because I’m so moral’ — It’s for these kind of people to do this,” he explained. “I didn’t agree with the fight that happened last week, and I voted against overturning the election. But at the same time, the impeachment is a wrongheaded, partisan notion. But if Republicans go along with it, it will destroy the party — a third of the Republicans will leave the party.”
Senate Republicans need to put the party first, even if that means having to defend Trump one last time, he added.
“This isn’t anymore about the Electoral College. It’s about the future of the party and whether you’re going to ostracize and ex-communicate President Trump from the party,” Paul said. “Well, guess what? Millions of his fans will leave as well.”
