“Vote to acquit, and your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.”
Do you hear that, Hawley, Cruz and 130 House members? You have tarred yourself as much as the Confederate traitors of the 1860s or the Bull Connors’ of the 1960s. The “cord of steel” is tightening.*
Do you hear that, “born again” Republicans like McConnell, condemning Wednesday’s events and finally realizing what you enabled?
“You can’t trust this president to do the right thing. Not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country.”
One year ago Donald Trump had been impeached and was awaiting trial by the Senate. Republicans cynically made sure the trial had no witnesses, but the evidence from the House was overwhelming.
“He will not change. And you know it.”
On January 23, 2020, Adam Schiff gave his summation in the trial, and excerpts were woven into the video by Eleven Films below, juxtaposing Schiff’s transcendent words with Trump’s degrading images: mocking the disabled, partying with Epstein, Charlottesville, kids in cages, throwing paper towels in Puerto Rico and more.
“He has betrayed our national security. He has compromised our elections, and he will do so again.”
Everything in the last year confirmed the worst of Schiff’s charges. When Trump’s culupability for COVID became manifest, we saw Schiff’s warning resonate with the deaths of hundreds of thousands. And now, none but the hardest core traitors can deny the prescience, lucidity and passion of Adam Schiff’s call for justice.
“You will not change him. You cannot constrain him. Truth matters little to him.”
Midnight in Washington will go down as one of the great speeches in American History:
It is Midnight in Washington.
The lights are finally going out in the Capitol after a long day in the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump.
You can’t trust this president to do the right thing. Not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country.
You just can’t.
He will not change. And you know it.
History will not be kind to Donald Trump. I think we all know that, not because it will be written by never-Trumpers. But because whenever we have departed from the values of our nation, we have come to regret it. And that regret is written all over the pages of our history.
If you find that the house has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.
He has betrayed our national security. He has compromised our elections, and he will do so again.
You will not change him. You cannot constrain him. Truth matters little to him.
What’s right matters even less and decency matters not at all.
We have proven Donald Trump guilty. Now do impartial justice and convict him.
Watch and rewatch it.
*Adapted from my diary on Thursday