In addition, some Democrats say in particular that such a vote could give Republicans who voted to absolve political coverage, seeking to distance themselves from Trump’s actions without taking a more punitive measure of condemning him during the Senate impeachment trial.
In the meantime, there are other Democrats who say a censorship resolution could be structured to effectively prevent Trump from running for office again under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment – an idea recently launched by Sens. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia and Susan Collins, Republican from Maine. Some Democrats also believe that putting a censorship resolution on the floor would put Republican lawmakers in a difficult political position, as voting for such a move would almost certainly provoke a reaction from their support base to Trump, and Republicans would not be able to rest their argument of the process they are defending now: that it is unconstitutional to have an impeachment trial of a former president.
“There are two ways of looking at it,” said a Democratic senator who asked not to be named to discuss private discussions. “One is do you have another opportunity to have some kind of conviction? But another way of looking at it is: do you give (Republicans) a chance to look good on something that doesn’t have as much impact in terms of accountability?”
Some seem to have little appetite to follow this path.
“Censorship is, in my opinion, such a small thing compared to the enormity of what he did,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii. “I’m thinking that maybe other jurisdictions have other things to say about some issues from other (Trump) activities.”
“No, not even close,” Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, said when asked about censorship. “This is a lock. This is a closed and closed box. It is even more solid and definite than I imagined.”
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi do not talk about what other appeal they should seek against Trump. At a news conference on Thursday, Pelosi said “next week, I may have some comments to make”.
Pelosi added: “I am not acting on something that has not yet happened.”
Some Democrats believe that they should only follow this path if there is a strong showing from the Senate Republicans.
“It would have to be a bipartisan initiative,” said Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island. “So this is the first obstacle.”
Republicans, however, are not showing much appetite for this idea – and some don’t want to address it.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and member of the leadership team, did not say whether he would agree to censor Trump.
“I would say that managers chose their course, and I don’t think that will be an option,” said Cornyn of the censorship.
When asked whether Trump should be censored, Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said: “That is not the issue before us,” arguing again that the Senate should not set a precedent by judging a former president.
Still, Senator John Thune, the Senate’s second Republican, signaled that he could support a censorship resolution to punish Trump, saying, “I saw some resolutions that could attract some support.”
Asked by CNN if that includes him, he nodded: “Yes”.
But he poured cold water on a censorship resolution to also prevent Trump from running for office again through the 14th Amendment.
“I don’t think this is going anywhere,” said Thune.
Democrats say the final question is whether such a move would send the right message to any future president.
“I think we should be concerned that we are sending the right message that it could never happen again,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico.
This story was updated with further developments on Friday.