For Trump that was.

No, I am going to go all in and let it ride

McConnell had proposed delaying the trial until February, but with the articles coming to the Senate on Monday, the process will likely be set in motion sooner. It would take 17 Republicans to join all 50 Democrats in order to convict. While the bar is high, some GOP sources think there is more of an appetite to punish the former President than is publicly apparent.

"There were 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment. There were probably over 150 who supported it," said Charlie Dent, a former Republican congressman and CNN contributor.

The ongoing Republican whisper campaign, according to more than a dozen sources who spoke to CNN, is based on a shared belief that a successful conviction is critical for the future of the Republican party. Multiple sources describe this moment as a reckoning for the party.

"Trump created a cult of personality that is hard to dismantle," said a former senior Republican official. "Conviction could do that."

The lobbying effort has included behind-the-scenes pressure by Republican donors, calls from former top Trump White House officials, and a set of talking points circulating among Republicans arguing for Trump's impeachment.

The 9-point memo charges that "it is difficult to find a more anti-conservative outburst by a U.S. president than Donald Trump the last two months." Other points include that Trump "urged supporters from across the nation to come to Washington, DC, to disrupt" Congress on January 6 and egged on the crowd, which was "widely understood to include people who were planning to fight physically, and who were prepared to die in response to his false claims of a 'stolen election.''

The memo goes on to point out Trump "tweeted and made other statements against the Vice President as the Secret Service was being forced to rush Mike Pence out of the Senate chamber and into a protective bunker." It's unclear how widely disseminated the memo is among Republicans in Washington

Among some former Trump administration officials, the President's actions around the January 6 riot aroused feelings of disgust.

"I almost threw up when I saw the President tweeting against Mike Pence," said one former senior Trump official.

In addition, more than 30 former Republican members of Congress signed a letter urging House members to vote to impeach. At the same time, current and former Senate aides are encouraging their bosses to seriously consider voting to convict.

And in the days after January 6, a handful of House staffers whose bosses supported Trump resigned, including a senior GOP staffer on the House Armed Services Committee and aides to Reps. Lauren Boebert and Jim Jordan.

"A lot of people view this as a fight for the party," said one former Republican Hill aide.

Others are hoping more Senate Republicans will step up.

"In the Senate, there is more institutional respect and understanding of the long-term consequences," said former Trump administration appointee Gabriel Noronha. "There is also real resentment of Trump and the damage he has done, and awareness of what this means in the next four to eight years."

Noronha recently made news when he was fired by the White House for a tweet condemning Trump's actions on January 6

Other Republican senators who have said they will vote to acquit cite a Jan. 12 op-ed in The Washington Post by former federal judge and conservative legal luminary J. Michael Luttig. Luttig writes an impeachment trial after Trump left office would be unconstitutional.

"I think a lot of people would like a reason not to convict," said a former Republican Senate staffer.

But other Republican legal experts are pushing back with GOP senators.

"It feels like the weight of the energy in Washington with legal conservatives is pretty strongly in favor of impeachment," said Gregg Nunziata, a former counsel to the Senate Republican conference who has reached out to senators himself.

However the fear of reprisal from Trump's allies in the media -- Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham have already criticized McConnell's condemnation of Trump -- and Trump's base may prevail.

The former senior Republican official who would like to see Trump convicted characterized it as an internal war within the party and expressed pessimism that enough senators would rise to the occasion.

"I have learned through sad experience that no one has lost money betting on the seemingly bottomless capacity of congressional R's for self-abasement and cowardice," said the former official.

CNN's Pamela Brown and Manu Raju contributed to this story.

Escapee is a certifiable looney - the village idiot makes more sense.

I'm insider trader

Trump lost because he was an idiot, so if he runs again he loses again

3 goes, 4 goes, 5 goes

I would love it

but he won in 2016

That two of Trump's banks have just cancelled his accounts - tells us Trump has FALLEN TOO MUCH BEHIND in paying the INTEREST on his world-record-size personal debt.

Trump is bankrupt. Deutsche Bank is now moving to reposses his assets, starting with Trump Tower and Mar A Lago

that's not correct

truman and nixon were much lower

that stat refers to "lowest rating at end of term" (their low points were before their end of term)

"this millennium"

lol you mean 20 years?

It's not bills fault amazon tell their customers to
pay by other means

laughable isn't it - I heard a rumour Trump won more votes with people wearing red hats...

Yep, if you rule out Trump and his Trump-ets, she appears to have as good a chance as any but Tobermory not keen on her chances at all.

Haley, Trump and Pence seem to be vying for favouritism in the Republican nominee market, one which is likely to be a huge market over the next few years.

trump party? whatever he calls it