The case that House Managers presented yesterday -- and will continue to present today -- is a master class in good lawyering. E.J. Dionne writes that it is airtight:
The House impeachment managers moved efficiently on Wednesday to close off the escape hatches and back doors for Senate Republicans. Quietly but passionately, they put the lie to the sham alibis that weak and cowardly members of the GOP are likely to invoke if they decide to do Donald Trump’s bidding one more time.
Those who vote to acquit the former president will now own it all: the incendiary speech that made the nation’s capital a killing ground but also the months of incitement and lying that built up to the violence.
That doesn't mean that Trump will be convicted of insighting a riot. But it does mean that those who vote to acquit Trump will become his accomplices:
They will own the threats against elected officials who refused to cheat on Trump’s behalf, the attacks on Black voters in big cities, and the savage mendacity of his all-caps tweets. Voting to acquit will mean joining in Trump’s rejection of the democratic obligation to accept the outcome of a free election and in his declarations even before the voting began that this was a “rigged” and “stolen” contest.
The video the managers presented was devastating:
The managers turned again to video late in the afternoon to bring home the frightening horror of the mob’s violence. Plaskett emphasized their targeting of Capitol Police officers and Vice President Mike Pence, which ought to give some Republicans second thoughts about acquittal. I don’t want to hear the words “law and order” from Trumpists ever again.
And they showed that Trump did not make just one speech to get that violence rolling:
“This clearly was not just one speech,” said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.). “It didn’t just happen. It was part of a months-long effort with a specific instruction: Show up on January 6.”
Importantly, the managers showed how Trump’s criminality involved not just whipping up the shameful, quasi-fascist violence (although that alone would justify conviction) but also his attacks on the entire democratic process, an argument carried by Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif). “He had absolutely no support for his claims,” Swalwell said. “But that wasn’t the point. He wanted to make his base angrier and angrier. And to make them angry, he was willing to say anything.”
And lest anyone imagine that the day’s violence was an accident, [Stacey] Plaskett pointed to the planning and coordination on pro-Trump, far-right websites that included discussions of D.C.’s gun laws and which police and military forces might be arrayed against the mob.
Trump will not be convicted. But that's not the point:
We will owe a debt to the House impeachment managers for many years to come. They have created an indisputable record. They catalogued lie after lie about the election’s outcome. They laid out Trump’s long history of promoting political violence, including his praise, shortly before the attack on the Capitol, for Rudolph W. Giuliani, right after his lawyer had called for “trial by combat.”
The senators who vote to acquit Trump will live in infamy. They will take their place in American history -- alongside Benedict Arnold.
Image: The Washington Post
10 comments:
Under the rules the Dems agreed to, the managers have the option of calling witnesses. I will be very surprised if they do, and failing to do so will be a big mistake.
We need to hear from the target of Trump's rage, Mike Pence, as to Trump's state of mind. We need to hear from people who were with Trump on 1/6, like Don Jr., Ivanka and the rest of the entourage. We need to hear from Rudy Giuliani and anyone else who gave speeches that day. We need to hear from members and senators who even after the insurrection promoted the Big Lie that the election was stolen.
In short, if Republicans could hold eight fruitless hearings on Benghazi with no purpose other than damaging Clinton's reputation, Dems should fully explore the far more serious matter of who was involved in helping the president incite an attack on the Capitol.
Cap
Precisely, Cap. Trump had many collaborators -- and they are just as guilty as Trump.
Most Republican senators think they can get out of this mess unscathed. Not riling Trump and his flying monkeys while lulling less crazy repugs into a ' nothing to see here' mindset may be a more difficult juggling act than the clowns can handle. The house manager's presentation is so graphic, so focused and so shocking that some GOP voters will fall away. With American elections so closely run, a little bit is all it will take to turn some campaigns.
So much depends on the Republican stupidity quotient, rumley -- and the stupidity quotient of their supporters.
I suspect there's a bigger target here, the mid-terms. The masterful presentations of the House managers over the first two days can't help but deepen the rift in the Republican ranks. Conservative Republicans and their donor class can be pried away from the Treason Caucus backed by Trump's Gullibillies. It's becoming harder, perhaps impossible, for conservative Republicans to ignore that their party has been taken over, debased.
Conservatives -- true conservatives -- cannot support Trump, Mound. He does not stand for the principles they hold dear.
I beg to differ.
The failure will be because both houses made up of millionaires and billionaires could face the same scrutiny at some point.
Trump , rightfully , offered to drain the swamp.
Being in the swamp himself his statements were a brilliant distraction from himself and his close friends and relatives.
The swamp remains intact.
TB
Trump didn't build his wall on the Mexican border, TB. But he built walls around the swamp. And it will be hard to dismantle them.
Trump is the swamp. He is interchangeable with many well known names and friends, who are about as fit to be president as he is: Epstein, Weinstein, Lay, Madoff,etc are all cut from the same cloth. Trump had the advantage of a brilliantly crafted false image that many Americans fell for- no different than the fleecing scamvangelist crowd that is so good at separating people from their money. This is the biggest reason why Trump succeeded- guys like him don't get to the top without the benefit of mob connections, fraud and endless criminal activity. Also, he was a walking impeachment article for 4 years- why wasn't he impeached for the botched CoVid 19 response will also linger. From any angle, this is a complete disaster for their country, convicted or acquitted doesn't really matter at this point. BC Waterboy
Trump is a walking disaster, waterboy. He always has been. What is amazing -- and frightening -- is the huge number of people who refuse to see the patently obvious.
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