Impeachment had to die so the Democrats could live
Biden calls for gun reform
There was a very brief moment on Saturday when Democrats found themselves at a cross roads. Despite agreeing to not call witnesses in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, House Managers were about to do just that. Specifically, Jamie Herrera Beutler, a Republican representative who said she was briefed about a phone call between then-president Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In that call, on January 6th, Trump allegedly played down the chaos and taunted McCarthy saying that the rioters “cared more about the election than he did.”
The idea of calling Herrera to testify was dubious to me for three reasons:
The man who was actually on the call already dismissed Herrera’s description of it. Believe him or not, it would be a “he said / she said” at best.
That’s a lot of faith you’re putting in a member of the opposition party not to embarrass you.
Most importantly, opening the door to witnesses (and allowing the GOP to call their own) could drag this process on for weeks throwing a serious monkey wrench into other policy goals. Most notably COVID-19 relief.
All of this would lead to more Trump-centric noise that would likely end in the same place it did Saturday anyway… with an acquittal.
Instead of committing to more Trump, the Democrats did the more prudent thing. They allowed their second impeachment, and with it the era of Trump, to end.
The machinations of government are now fully in the hands of Democrats with blue skies ahead. They can go wherever they want, free of what has been their defining issue over the last four years.
Trump is over if you want it.
COVID-19 relief is the first step and there is a lot that needs to be done to pass that via reconciliation including smoothing out $15 minimum wage with the progressive voices. But their fate is their own now.
Let’s see what they do with it.
Px3 Mug Makes Waking Up Less Awful
Thanks to Lucas who sent along this picture. What an amazing world, when your morning hours can be peppered with the bearded visages of myself and Andrew Heaton.
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Should Trump be convicted in the Senate? Kinda? The Democrats dropped the ball. In total they provide three articles of impeachment, and they were all weak sauce. Trump has done a plethora of deplorable things in the last four years, many of which were probably impeachable, and the crap in the articles were all the Democrats could agree on? At this point, I can't even be upset with another acquittal, because the charges were wrong. - BRIAN
Realistically, you can’t impeach a president that’s popular within his own party. The most effective way to remove them would be to build an argument that eroded GOP support. It was the reason Nixon left, he didn’t have a base and his own party turned on him. It wasn’t because they all felt the weight of history, Dick wasn’t worth it anymore.
That’s why this case got closer than the last one. Republicans love the rule of law and a lawless mob is the opposite of that. Not quite the same when the victims are a bunch of snide State Department boffins.
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Would Trump be eligible to run in a CA recall? - SCOTT
Trump? No. But you could expect to see Donald Trump Jr. and possibly Big Chungus on the trail if Richard Grenell runs.
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How is it acceptable for 15 jurors to not show up to the trial? How is it acceptable for three jurors to collude with the defense attorney. Why are the Republicans incapable of acting like they give a shit about procedure here? - SEAN
It’s not a real trial. It’s a political exercise. No matter how much we want to call it something else… that’s how it will behave.
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Well, that was one hell of a speech by McConnell.
It confirmed my hypothesis that Mitch has always loathed the Former President and has been using him as a useful idiot to further his own ends.
IMHO the Former President is dead politically. Within a year Cruz, Graham, Paul, et al will be saying they were actually working behind the scenes to take him down the whole time. - GARY
While I think January 6th caps what his power could have been otherwise, I don’t quite share your opinion on Trump’s viability. He has a habit of reinvention.