There's already been a lot of back and forth with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) describing the senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a rogue leader of the Senate, who has already said that he is coordinating with the White House on the Senate trial. Senator Lindsey Graham has also stated that he does not intend to be impartial at all, but none of this comes as a surprise to anyone as the sides have already dug into their respective positions.
As for procedure, Speaker Pelosi is holding back on delivering the 2 articles (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress) to the Senate until Mitch McConnell and minority leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) negotiate what the rules will be, namely if additional witnesses will be called. Marc Short, chief of staff to vice president Mike Pence asked how you reconcile the statements of Speaker Pelosi that this is an air tight case against the president but that the Senate should call additional witnesses. Mr. Short must not have read the second article, which is obstruction of Congress. Additional witnesses must be called because the White House has refused to have anyone in the Trump Administration testify and has provided no requested documents with regard to the withholding of aid to Ukraine. It is an air tight case, but so that the American people know to fully know all the facts, administration officials must testify. And speaking of witnesses, what about the Bidens? Senator Corey Booker said he was exhausted with this angle of the Ukraine affair because calling them as witnesses is not germane to the president's actions and it's not.
What is also exhausting is person's like Mr. Short defending the president's reprehensible comment he made this week about deceased Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) at a rally in Mr. Dingell's home state, in which he said Mr. Dingell was 'looking up at us' [from hell]. Mr. Short also said that evangelicals are not a monolithic group in response to a query about Christianity Today's editorial calling for the impeach and removal of Mr. Trump on moral grounds, but how is one anymore able to accept or take seriously anything that comes from evangelical leaders who still support Mr. Trump? Answer: You can not.
The president is guilty of obstructing Congress and if he were innocent, these administration officials would testify under oath about what they know. Why is the president blocking this? It's not because he did nothing wrong. If the president has nothing to hide then he would provide documents and witnesses, however, this president has run his administration accountable to no one, putting himself above oversight and the law.
Chuck Todd asked the question of whether impeachment would curb the president's monarchical behavior or accelerate it. With the easily predictable acquittal in the Senate, Mr. Trump will be given a green light to break norms and laws in what ever way he decides. A sham trial for a slimy man in the presidency will only embolden him more. Also, it will not keep him for seeking foreign interference in the U.S. presidential election because in his mind the Senate will have said that it is OK to do so.
The chaos that is the Trump presidency will continue and the acceleration of it will be lead by one of the worst people to ever hold political office in American history, Senator Mitch McConnell. Democrats are hoping that in November that the electorate will vote Mr. Trump out, but sadly the same result as in 2016 may happen. The administration will more quietly (this time) welcome foreign interference and Mr. Trump will once again lose the popular vote but sneak by in the electoral college. Former Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) said that voters have already sorted themselves. There is no middle.
But have voters really sorted themselves or have politicians sorted the voters? You want more civility, more truth, more compromise in U.S. politics? Make all the congressional districts square. All gerrymandering has done is further divide the country to keep ultra-partisans in power.
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| United States Congressional Map |
Panel: Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Rich Lowry, The National Review; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian
One more thing...
Helene Cooper clarified a tragedy of American society when discussing the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. She explained that this shooting prioritized gun rights over children's deaths. For defenders of the NRA, let that sink in hard...
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