Too many people high up in business and the GOP are now in danger of indictment, and staying out of jail means that keeping Trump in power is essential. It doesn’t matter what Trump does, the House GOP will not vote to impeach, no matter the outcry, no matter the evidence. Trump could literally beat children to death using puppies and kittens on Pay-per-View and he won’t be impeached.
Okay, so we can’t impeach Trump, what about those around him? Pence, Ryan, McConnell, DeVoss, Tillerson, Conway, Ivanka, Jared, et al?
Well, they can be indicted, convicted even, but then Trump will pardon them.
This is why Trump won’t be impeached. He can (and will) pardon anyone who can implicate him. In fact, Trump could grant a blanket amnesty on all people involved in any federal crimes, no matter how heinous.
The only limit to Trump power to pardon is he can only pardon federal crimes and he cannot pardon someone impeached by Congress (see above).
Some of you may point to the 2018/2020 elections as a remedy to this problem. This of course presumes such elections will take place and will not be compromised by the actions of Trump or his allies. These actions could include illegal acts, for which which Trump can pardon the offender, even before a trial took place.
Some of you may argue that this would provoke a coup, perhaps even a revolution. I would point out that Trump commands the military and has the launch codes to our nuclear arsenal.
I have a very hard time seeing how this ends well for this nation, or this planet.