Donald Trump Jr. Is Demanding Mitt Romney Be Punished for His Impeachment Vote

image: Mario Tama/Getty Images

During his closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial last week, Adam Schiff repeated a report from CBS News that claimed a source close to Donald Trump said key senators were warned, “Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.”

“I don’t know if that’s true,” Shiff said. “I hope it’s not true.” And the Republicans in the chamber lost their freaking minds.

Some made audible reactions, groaning and even yelling out that Schiff knew it wasn’t true. Lisa Murkowski tried to pretend like that one comment was what was going to drive her to vote against conviction, telling reporters, “I thought he was doing fine with moral courage until he got to the head on a pike. That’s where he lost me.” (She made a similar claim later on, blaming her vote for acquittal on a single comment from Elizabeth Warren questioning Chief Justice John Roberts’ role in the trial.)

Multiple Republicans denied that they had been threatened with retribution if they failed to vote to acquit and they were so angry at the implication that they had been. How dare anyone imply that their decision was influenced by anything but their totally uncowardly moral compass?!

I mean, that was never exactly believable but stuff like this isn’t helping their case:

Yes, that’s the president’s son, calling for Mitt Romney–the sole Republican who voted to convict Trump on one of the two articles of impeachment–to be “expelled from the GOP.” That sure sounds like a pike to me.

Trump’s eldest son often takes the role of his father’s attack dog online and in Fox News interviews. But Trump himself is also reportedly taking Romney’s vote very personally and is looking for payback, both towards him and the Democrats in Congress.

What are the odds that the Republicans who feigned outrage at the implication of the threat of retaliation are now going to speak out against actual retaliation? We probably shouldn’t hold our breath on that one.

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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