At this point, you can take your pick as why Donald Trump is in sinking trouble over his Ukraine whistleblower scandal.

You could choose, as some say, that Trump has lost control of the narrative, which is not a good position to be in, headed into impeachment.

Or you could choose what ought to be an alarming fact that cracks have begun to form in Trump’s Republican wall of defense.

Yes, to be sure, these cracks today are small, and some could argue, inconsequential.

But these small cracks have emerged quickly nonetheless–within just a couple of weeks of the entire scandal breaking into public view.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) came out in favor of an impeachment inquiry. (Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan came out for impeachment earlier, but Amash ultimately left the GOP and became an independent.)

Meanwhile, on the Senate side, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has already spoken out against Trump’s dealings with the leader of Ukraine at the center of the impeachment drive.

While, yes, you can certainly argue Romney has maintained a reputation as a strong Trump critic, again it’s the timing. If Romney jumped this soon, what might force the hands of other GOP senators down the road?

Which brings us to this report just out, in which GOP strategist Mike Murphy says an unnamed Republican senator told him 30 Republican senators would vote to remove Trump from office today if it were on a secret ballot.

Of course, any final vote to remove Trump or not will not be secret.

But what today is possible by secret ballot today could well happen out in the open in the future.

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