At the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie has a reminder that the founding fathers included those who had serious reservations about the Senate.
With or without witnesses, Trump’s trial shows that the antifederalists were right to question the Senate’s purpose.
Those reservations are looking prescient these days.
The Senate was a sticking point for the antifederalists. With its small membership and fixed terms, they thought it was too aristocratic; with its mix of legislative, executive and judicial powers, they thought it was too powerful. “Is a body so vested with means to soften and seduce — so armed with power to screen or to condemn — so fortified against suspicion and enquiry — so largely trusted with legislative powers — so independent of and removed from the people — so tempted to abuse and extend those powers — is this a body which freeman ought ever to create, or which freeman can ever endure?” the writer “Cincinnatus” asked in reply to James Wilson, a key delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
Read the whole thing. Bouie is reminding us that the constitution was not adopted by unanimous acclamation or without serious concerns. It has been made into a bit of hagiography by the Right when it suits their purposes — and is ignored when it doesn’t.
But it was this line in Bouie’s commentary that got my attention.
"Senators have not conspired to make themselves a permanent aristocracy or make seditious treaties with foreign powers."
No?
Mitch McConnell has abused the powers of his office - and so has his wife Elaine Chao, who in her role in the cabinet, has steered Federal dollars to Kentucky to aid in his re-election, and has used it to boost her own investments.
If they're not acting like aristocrats who consider themselves privileged above ordinary people and the law, it's not for want of trying. (Don't overlook how Chao has attempted to leverage her position to advantage her family and their business empire.)
McConnell's refusal to allow charges of Russian interference to be raised in the 2016 election and refusal to pass measures to secure our elections, the aid other Republican campaigns received from Russian interference without sanction - that's effectively a seditious treaty even if there's nothing on paper. (More from annieli here.) A wink is as good as a nod, as the saying goes. It gets even worse if you follow the money.
And then there's McConnell's contribution to lifting sanctions against Russia which just happened to result in a Russian oligarch making a big investment in a Kentucky aluminum plant. What were people just talking about? Quids and pro quos?
There's a reason McConnell hates the nickname "Moscow Mitch". It's accurate.
But he's not the only one in the Senate with troubling connections to Moscow. Has everyone forgotten that 2018 4th of July trip to Moscow by 7 GOP senators and a House member? Per Charles P. Pierce:
Pretty standard holiday bunting-draped bunkum, no? [4th of July message from Senator Ron Johnson] That’s only if you ignore that:
a) when this entry was posted, Johnson was in Russia as part of a GOP-only delegation trying to make sure the road is smoothed for the president*’s annual performance review in Helsinki;
b) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia not three days after the Senate Intelligence Committee joined with the entire U.S. intelligence community in concluding that Russia had ratfcked the 2016 election on behalf of the current president*;
c) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia the same day in which two more Britons were felled by the same nerve agent that had nearly killed a Russian defector and his daughter;
and, finally, d) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia on the Fourth of Freaking July, aka Independence Day.
Steve Benen at MSNBC has a who’s who of the trip:
In addition to [Richard] Shelby [R-AL], who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and has limited foreign policy responsibilities, the official congressional delegation featured Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)...
...At issue is seven Republicans traveling to an adversary’s capital less than two years after it launched an attack on our sovereignty. Did the Americans make the trip to take a firm stand against our attackers? Hardly. They had no interest in confronting Russian officials over their election interference, preferring instead to let bygones be bygones.
There was no reason for the delegation to be partisan, but it was. There was no reason for these Republicans to give the Kremlin a pass on its misdeeds, but they did. There was no reason for the GOP lawmakers to downplay the significance of election meddling and the fate of Crimea in their discussions, but based on multiple accounts, they did that, too*.
The MSNBC link has a video clip of Rachel Maddow with more on the story that makes the trip even more damning.
The Story is Bigger than Impeachment and the Trial
Trump is Putin’s puppet — it has been clear from some time. He asked for Russian help, Russian help got him elected, Russian money has been propping up his business empire for years, and Trump is a fan boy of authoritarian leaders. He’s compromised from the get go: morally, mentally, financially — you name it. The people around Trump may or may not be okay with this, but he’s gotten rid of everyone who might openly object or push back. One of the elements in John Bolton’s background is that he is a Cold Warrior opposed to Russia and Putin — that may explain in part why his revelations are leaking out now. (Not to dismiss his other possible motivations, of course.)
Keep in mind that the whole Ukraine story starts with Russian manipulation of Trump, feeding him conspiracy theories both directly and through intermediaries, and should be seen in the context of all of the Russian connections to Trump, the people around him, and the GOP.
U.S. GOP Senators, GOP House members, Trump and administration officials, right wing media — they’re all spouting talking points which originated in the Kremlin among the rest of the blather they’re emitting. If they ever do call witnesses in the Senate, it would be interesting to hear from Vladimir Putin — if he could be compelled to speak honestly.What we may have failed to appreciate is how much broader Russian influence is on the Republican Party in Congress and elsewhere.
What they don’t do with Kompromat they do with money — and both where it’s possible. The fact of the matter is that Putin is waging war on the U.S. and is winning because we have a president and party that are in denial about it. The Cold War is back, and it’s being fought now with disinformation, dark money, and division along fault lines and points of vulnerability. The U.S. Senate is inherently anti-democratic; it has turned out to be a weak point in our government and it is being exploited by many bad actors, not just Putin.
One possible reason the people who have left the Trump administration have not spoken up about what is going on behind closed doors is fear that Americans will not be able to handle it — and that it would seriously damage America’s standing in the world. The media seems to go out of its way to avoid showing Trump “warts and all” lest they be attacked by him, and be accused of partisan bias, or be accused of being unpatriotic. (Not to mention what it would do to their ratings.)
Elizabeth Warren has proposed RESTORING INTEGRITY AND COMPETENCE TO GOVERNMENT AFTER TRUMP. Every Democratic candidate should either sign on or develop their own version. It is essential — but it may not be enough. Warren’s plan appears to have a largely domestic focus. It is going to need a massive national security focus as well, and it is going to run up against huge political opposition on the part of the compromised. Many will dismiss it as CT. It will be fought behind closed doors and secure hearings, out of the public view — if at all — but it must be fought and we need public acknowledgment of the need to have that fight.
The longer we avoid confronting where we are, the worse it will get. There’s an old observation: “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing — once they’ve exhausted all the alternatives.” Are we there yet? Keep the Russian connection in mind while the trial goes on. This trial is about much more than Trump. We have a lot of business we’ve been putting off.
Vast structural change — you either carry it out yourself in the direction you want, or the Chickens of History coming home to roost will force it on you without your advice or consent.