Murc's Law famously asserts that "only Democrats have agency over American politics. In other words, anything bad that happens is Democrats' fault for not doing more. Nothing Republicans do matters.
Yesterday's confusing episode surrounding witnesses followed by a minority of Senators voting not to find Trump guilty is a perfect example of this. "Do Something" Twitter was enraged that Democrats didn't do "one weird trick" to somehow convict Trump. Certainly, the debate over calling witnesses created some unnecessary hope that there was some dramatic twist, like an episode of Perry Mason or something.
There wasn't. There never would be.
Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, made an estimation that they did not want to have Trump be the first President found guilty in a Senate trial. Most likely so they could placate his rabid cultists. They hung their arguments on narrow argument - not of his innocence - that you can't convict a former president in the Senate. This is a bullshit argument, contradicted by precedent, common sense and the previous vote at the beginning of the trial, but it is an argument that allowed McConnell to make his disingenuous statement simultaneously trying to blame Trump for 1/6 and exonerating him from political repercussions.
McConnell's statement proves that there were never 17 Republicans willing to call Trump to account. McConnell laid out the framework to acquit with prejudice. This strikes me as too clever by half. The presence of Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse and Toomey among those who recognize the dangerous criminality of Trump's actions mean that there can be no doubt that Trump is guilty and being protected by partisan loyalty and fear.
The managers proved their case. McConnell basically admitted as much. By hanging their decision on a technical reading of impeachment (and the fact that they delayed the trial until after impeachment UNDER McCONNELL'S LEADERSHIP) the Republican Senate has proven that the majority of them simply do not care about the rule of law. Urging criminal proceedings against Trump is a craven abdication of responsibility.
Yet for some, this was a failure by the Democrats? Who thinks like that?
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