Censure makes no sense

But more importantly, a censure measure doesn’t carry any of the upside that a vote against the president in a Senate trial would.

Some Senate Republicans—perhaps most—would prefer a Republican party that didn’t have President Trump as its standard bearer. They made this clear during the 2016 primaries, when only one sitting senator (Jeff Sessions) and a dozen sitting House members endorsed Trump. While he may still be a favorite for reelection, he’s an electoral anchor on the rest of the GOP. Republicans senators who face reelection in three or five years will probably fare better with a de-Trumpified Republican party than the current one.

That’s why there’s still a (small) chance of a jailbreak among Senate Republicans. As information about the Ukraine scandal continues to trickle out—“Ukraine Knew of Aid Freeze in July, Says Ex-Top Official in Kyiv”; “Trump’s big, ‘exonerating’ piece of Ukraine evidence takes a hit”; “Trump news: Impeachment poll reveals soaring public support for president’s removal during TV hearings, as damning Ukraine scandal details emerge”—Senate Republicans may decide that the short-term pain of turning on President Trump is preferable to the long, agonizing decline of their party.