Trump’s Republican wall eroding ahead of impeachment vote

Republicans offered only modest reproach when President Donald Trump said there were "very fine people" on both sides of a white supremacist rally. They stayed in line when Trump was caught pressuring a foreign leader and later defended his handling of a deadly pandemic.

But with a sudden force, the wall of Republican support that has enabled Trump to weather a seemingly endless series of crises is beginning to erode.

Trump's weakened standing among his own party will come into sharper focus on Jan. 13 when the House is expected to impeach the president for inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol last week. A handful of Republicans have already said they'll join the effort, a number that could grow as the vote nears.

The choice facing Republicans isn't just about the immediate fate of Trump, who has just seven days left in his presidency. It's about whether the party's elected leaders are ready to move on from Trump, who remains popular with the GOP but is now toxic in much of Washington.

How they proceed could determine whether the party remains viable in upcoming elections or splinters in a way that could limit their relevance.

"We're at the moment now where we're seeing a fracturing, a breaking, because of the unprecedented situation, the sedition, the violence, the death," said Steve Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategy who left the party because of Trump.

The stunning nature of the deadly insurrection, and Trump's role in fueling it, has shaken many lawmakers. Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, gave rank-and-file conservatives the green light to abandon Trump in a scathing statement on Jan. 12 evening.

"There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and...