Culpable

 The impeachment trial could be over today with a debate and vote tomorrow. Trump will likely not be convicted. (It would largely take about 25 rabid Trumpist Senators boycotting the vote to get to "two-thirds of those present.") There will be a lot of post mortems about why the Senate didn't convict. There will be lamentations about "the brokenness of our politics."

Bullshit. Our "politics" are not broken, the Republican Party is. 

By refusing to hold Trump accountable - as the House managers have amply demonstrated that he is - the Republican Party is effectively endorsing what happened in January 6th. There is some anecdotal evidence that voters are dropping their Republican party registration. That only means so much if they keep voting for spineless shit sticks like Marco Rubio, but it means there is a limited future for Trumpism. They might vote for a soulless Voldemort like Rick Scott, but Josh Hawley's aspirations are likely dead.

The first impeachment neutralized the bullshit Trump attacks on Hunter Biden's laptop. Whether the press would've fallen for that nonsense again, or whether it was all just misogyny and hatred of Hillary in the first place, we shall never know. But it is clear what Trump wanted from Ukraine, and exposing it neutralized it.

The second impeachment lays bare the cowardice of most mainstream Republicans. They are so petrified of their QAnon marinated voters that they can't even vote to bar from future office a man who literally sent a mob to threaten their lives. It is a staggering display of cowardice. The Senators who vote to acquit will never be able to talk about protecting police lives again without catching serious side eye from the men and women who were attacked, abused and killed to protect them, and then abandoned.

If, as expected, the Senate acquits Trump - let's say it's around 55-45 - then we will hopefully see the onslaught of a hundred other legal cases surrounding his taxes, campaign finance violations, the release of parts of the transcripts of the conversations with Putin, self-dealing, meddling in the Georgia election...as Josh Marshall says, "The Law is coming." If so, some Senators will lie and say that justice was ultimately served. Horseshit. This is THERE moment. The House managers have not indicted Trump, so much as they have prepared an indictment of the broad swatch of Republican officeholders.

They are all about to plead guilty,