How many dead bodies does it take for Republican Senators to crawl out from the well in Trump’s desk and do the right thing? Are five dead human beings, including one Capitol Police Officer and 138 injured police officers plus two police suicides in the week after the Trump induced Jan 6 riot, enough? Do those deaths and damaged lives, lost in the US Capitol Building, constitute sufficient motivation for Republican Senators to break free of the comfortable confines of Trump fear, worship and obedience?
Probably not. It’s so warm and comfortable being a United States Senator belonging to Trump. If you go out on your own, someone might raise their voice as you walk through the airport. It happened to Lindsay Graham. It won’t happen again. He scurried “home.”
It’s not over. As long as there’s time there’s a chance. Trump’s not so great, but exceedingly grating, lawyers may have breathed some life into a long shot proposition. Convicting Trump of a High Crime and Misdemeanor is a long shot. The Framers of the Constitution wanted it that way.
Conventional wisdom holds that there are, right now, about 56 votes to Convict which would include all Democrat Senators and the six Republicans who voted to uphold the Constitutionality of the proceeding. If all 100 Senators are present, 67 are needed for Conviction. Assuming the conventional wisdom is accurate, the proponents for Conviction need 11 more votes from Republicans. Their best shot of getting those 11 votes lies in keeping Trump’s grating lawyers talking ad nauseum.
The grating lawyers seem to not understand the nature of the proceeding in which they are involved. Impeachment in the House and Trial in the Senate are political matters not legal matters. Gerald Ford, who was a lawyer, spent time in Congress, the Vice Presidency and as President of the Country said “an Impeachable Offense is whatever the House of Representatives says it is.” Conviction by two-thirds vote in the Senate is final. There is no Judicial Review. The grating lawyers carrying on about “due process” shows they misunderstand the process.
They seem to assume that Trump, or any other previous President, had a “right” to the office. He does, until Impeached by the House and Convicted by the Senate by whatever processes they chose to employ. You don’t like the result? Take it across the street to the Supreme Court.
They’ll have you arrested for trespassing.
CONCLUSION
The Senate is on break now. We’ll be hearing more from the grating lawyers. Which is good.
I don’t know the result but I do know that Mitch McConnell will be on the winning side. Mitch always knows the score. He’s been the elected leader since high school, college and law school.
He’d have no problem taking down Trump, if it came to that.
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