Stepping On Rakes

There was a time when the GOP could point to figures of real intellect and cunning.  While Reagan wasn't stupid, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but there were figures in the GOP who were credibly intelligent.  As the GOP has descended into the Upside Down of Fox News, they have bled their more intelligent members or their more intelligent members have had dumb themselves down to stay in touch with the party's base of aggrieved white men who disdain "book larning."

Anyway, that's a long way of introducing the idea that the their efforts to defend Trump have been comically bad.  So bad that they have really abandoned any attempt to defend Trump and have tried instead to discredit the process.  The fact are against them, the law is against them, so all that is left is to pound on the table and yell like hell.

A few weeks ago, this took the form of screaming on Fox about how the Democrats were doing all this behind closed doors.  They memorably stormed into a secure facility with their freaking cellphones. The GOP demanded that the Democrats hold an actual vote to start impeachment and that there be public hearings.

First of all, this was all bullshit. Democrats were following the template of previous impeachments.  Secondly, every time the GOP tried to make a process argument, the Democrats would snatch the argument away from them.  "Why isn't there a vote?" They then had a vote.  "Why isn't testimony public?" Now we have public testimony.

This has led to the sobering testimony of the last few days, where Ambassadors Taylor and Yovanovitch have been incredibly persuasive and even introduced new evidence.  The saddest part is that this is unlikely to move the Deplorables.  The Foxified base of the party is impervious to evidence or reason.  That is the primary audience of Devin Nunes bonkers spectacles.  The larger part of the electorate, however, is not addled by the steady stream of lunatic conspiracy theories that make up Trump's "defense."

We have had so many Holy Shit moments in this impeachment saga, but we haven't had the Holiest of Shit moment.  We need an audio recording.  We need Lev Parnas or Rudy Giuliani to flip.  If public opinion can support removal to the tune of 60%, that could greatly affect the calculus of the Senate - especially if they choose to have a secret ballot.

We are a long way from removing Trump via impeachment.  But the ineffectual nature of his defense should be sobering for those who are trying to keep this grifter in the Oval Office.