After last night’s opening statements, today was the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary markup of two articles of impeachment, one on abuse of power and the other on obstruction of Congress. From morning ‘til dark, Republican after Republican cast aspersions, hollered, thundered, kicked dirt, and stamped their feet. They brought up specious amendments and points of order. They reiterated their feverishly twisted arguments ad nauseam. (To even joke about those stupefying contortions of reality being “Russian reversals” would be far too generous). They drew the hearing out for so long that they missed their precious congressional ball at the White House.
At last, past 11 o’ clock at night, the committee closed out the last of the amendments. There would be no more motions or debate before the momentous vote on the articles of impeachment. After all their preening and stonewalling, Republican ranking member Doug Collins and his foul band of miscreants had pushed the historic event past when most of those paying attention had tuned out, and the Republicans and their spinmeister acolytes could spend the next day and all weekend long howling to Donald’s cultish following and to the obliging corporate press about how those godawful Democrats had so unjustly wronged the finest, purest president, under cover of darkness and assuredly with nothing but malice in their hearts.
But then...
Hark, a sight to behold! Chairman Jerrold Nadler, without any advance notice to the Republicans, bid them the night to think over the gravity of their impending votes, and then he gaveled the hearing to a close. Just like that.
Their shock and chagrin! Ha ha ha, it was so choice. Seriously, pay special attention to the off-mic exclamation at the 1-minute mark: a moment of sweet, sweet comeuppance, of momentarily wiping the faux indignant expressions off of their faces and replacing them with real ones. Then, a hubbub of stammering half-feigned outrage at the demise of their day-long underhanded gambit, as Nadler strode on outta there. It was glorious.
And now, in the light of a new day, on to the vote on whether to recommend to the full body of the House of Representatives the impeachment of the president who, out of the last century and a half of American history, deserves it most.
An addendum for your consideration: It is my belief that comprehensive impeachment on all of the president’s major abuses of power would consequentially fulfill congresspeople’s oaths of office, initiate meaningful justice for all of those harmed, convey the staggering breadth and volume of the president’s perfidy and viciousness, foreground the extensive harm and the ever-increasingly grave danger to democracy and to the country, persuade and motivate more of the public about the urgency of addressing the problem, and overwhelm the Senate into having no politically realistic option but to convict and remove.
If you agree even in part, please call your congressperson today to ask that he or she demand impeachment on an additional serious offense or two that are important to you and/or on all of the crimes of office. For the latest, see #ImpeachForThePeople.
And for a dramatized portrayal of what could be, see yesterday’s post:
It's not too late to #ExpandTheArticles. A model impeachment hearing shows how! (video)