Congress is about to impeach Trump (successfully this time, since the Democrats now control the Senate). That will prohibit him from holding public office in the future, so they won't even be able to hope for a do-over in '24. I doubt that will do much to calm them.
Conviction requires 2/3 Senate vote, so 17 Republicans will need to vote to convict.
That’s not how that works. Conviction in the Senate requires a 2/3 majority vote, which is vanishingly unlikely even with Democratic control.
Unless Democrats can really stick to one well aimed narrow charge, this one will likely fall apart too. They only need to include one ridiculous charge to have Republicans nope out.
Trump should have been impeached for that phone call. Drawing any attention away from that was a mistake.
1) The Phone Call 2) Obstruction of Justice
The investigative report, you know the evidence, was needed.
Your version of how this went down doesn't make any sense.
In attempting to resist impeachment, the Republicans want to call the report into question. That includes both it's direct evidence (attacking sources, resisting subpeonas, etc) and it's other claims. If you claim A and B and I debunk B, it sure feels like I weaken A (that's not logically correct, but people fall for this trick all the time).
RealClearPolitics, which is a Republican heavy source - so note here, they ARE biased - lays out the argument the Republicans used: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/01/28/democr...!
(and I'm not saying RCP is accurate as a whole, but I'm saying they are accurate as to the Republican argument against impeachment)
Democrats do not control the Senate, and will not until after all of Ossoff, Warnock, and Harris (as VP) take office, which will be not earlier than exactly when Trump leaves.
More to the point, it takes a 2/3 vote in the Senate to convict, and Democrats will, even after all the newly elected figures relevant take office, have a bare majority due to the VP’s tie breaking vote, not a 2/3 supermajority.