A Senate Impeachment Trial should not be the focus – it is not a magic goal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic House should focus on what they actually can control: the Impeachment Hearings.
Democrats have nothing to gain by Pelosi rushing through a House vote on actual Impeachment. There are good reasons why Donald Trump is trying to provoke this. Nor should House Democrats fall for the temptation to settle for narrow Articles of Impeachment that are limited to the Ukraine–Biden case.
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The moment Pelosi’s House of Representatives passes the torch of the impeachment process to the Senate, Moscow Mitch will have a golden opportunity to cast decisive influence on what happens. God knows what stunts he’ll pull, however unconstitutional we may consider them to be. He may find a way to limit what is visible to the public. Perhaps the Senate may ban full TV coverage. Perhaps they’ll delay proceedings while the Conservative-controlled Supreme Court has to decide something related to impeachment. Perhaps McConnell may collude with Chief Justice John Roberts to rush the actual Impeachment Trial and the vote.
Obviously the Republican Party wishes to give this as little airtime as possible.
I sincerely hope that none of us harbor any illusions that McConnell’s Senate will suddenly become mindful of it Constitutional duty and muster the two-thirds vote necessary to remove Trump from office. That’s not going to happen!
Even if it did, America will be cursed by the probably-worse President Pence, a Christianist Dominionist who is hell-bent on implementing an American theocracy.
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A Senate Impeachment Trial is not a magic goal. It will not rid us of Trump. And therefore it should not be the focus. We don’t even control the optics of a Senate Trial. Moscow Mitch does.
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In a better world, both Republicans and Democrats would strive to protect the Constitution and the rule of law. The last few years have surely shown us that this in not the case. In fact, that is why Brett Kavanaugh is sitting on the Supreme Court, and why Neil Gorsuch rather than Merrick Garland is a SCOTUS Justice.
Remember: The American Constitution and our laws mean only what the courts say they do. Contemplate the full consequence of that. What we are seeing is a slowly-unfolding coup d’état of America’s judicial branch. That is why McConnell’s Senate has been confirming young reactionary justices vetted by the Federalist Society at a record pace.
For the same reason we would be wise not to rush towards a Senate Trial. It won’t help uphold the Constitution. It won’t achieve what we want. It won’t achieve what America so sorely needs.
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What matters is Trump’s trial before the American people!
Our focus must be on conducting extremely thorough Impeachment Hearings. Fortunately, that is in the very capable hands of our Committee Chairs: Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings, Jerry Nadler, Maxine Waters and Eliot Engel. And, of course, the eminent Speaker herself, Nancy Pelosi.
Let those Impeachment Hearings be televised and carefully choreographed. Let them be long and drawn-out. In fact, let them continue almost right up until the 2020 Elections.
Yes, Trump’s trial before the American people is really the only thing that matters. And that trial must be in the form of the House Impeachment Hearings – not a Senate Trial.