Tuesday, February 02, 2021

Albatross!

Start there, and the rest of this falls into place. This is not a legal proceeding, and the jury is not bound by the dictates of the law. There are no rules of procedure beyond the Senate rules, no rules of evidence beyond the Senate rules, and even if the Chief Justice was the principal officer (he won't be), he would not be sitting as a judge. While we're at it, let's toss out the argument made by Trump's lawyers, that a non-office holder can't be impeached. Trump was impeached while he held office; whether or not he can be punished after leaving office is the question. Impeachment is most closely analagous to an indictment. Prosecution of the dead is a moot and bootless cause; but Trump is not dead. He's been indicted, now he faces trial and possible punishment. He can't be removed from office (the primary punishment of the impeachment process, of which trial in the Senate is the second part); but he can be barred from holding office ever again.  But even making that argument doesn't matter all that much.  The GOP Senators will vote their political prospects, not their consciences (assuming some of them have one; i.e., assuming facts not in evidence).  So while this is an appealing rebuttal to the President's lawyers' brief: It's a winning argument only in the political arena; which is where this fight is being fought.

If you think about it, Trump could sensibly not pay his lawyers for this hot mess: I mean, what's it to him? He's not gonna get "convicted" by the Senate. He could walk to the well of the Senate, drop trou, and leave a stinking pile on the floor; and the GOP Senators would still not vote to punish, in any manner, shape, or form. If he just stayed in Florida and indicated he was raising his middle finger to the Dems in Congress, the outcome would be the same. Trump is doing this for the same reason he's insisting on arguing "election fraud": it's a money-maker.

I'm gonna pause here to digress a moment.  I made the "mistake" of giving Beto O'Rourke some coin when he ran against Ted Cruz.  Very small coin, mind; but now I'm on  the e-mail list for every Democratic entity in America, and a few that just want to associate with the Democratic party.  I regularly now receive e-mails purportedly from Nancy Pelosi, telling me what new and dire thing Mitch McConnnell and the GOP Senators are doing to America the Beloved.  It's horseshit.  I received these e-mails all through the Georgia run-off. I didn't give anything, but I read that the Democrats had raised far more than they could spend in Georgia, pretty much as Trump did screaming about "election fraud".  I'm quite sure this is not new in politics, it's just that it was usually applied to people with far more money giving much larger (and so consequential) amounts than I will ever give.  Welcome to the age of "grassroots fundraising."  Trump has raised millions since November; it's clearly the greatest grift he's ever gotten his hands on.  He's sending out the same type of e-mails Democrats are sending me.  No amount of money is ever enough, but given Trump's track record he's far more likely to spend it on himself than the Democrats are to give it all to Nancy Pelosi.  So he's contesting the impeachment, and doing it as cheaply as possible (read the news, I don't have time to document EVERYTHING), so he can keep fund-raising fleecing the rubes.  

End of digression.

Go back to that argument from the brief that "insufficient evidence exists" as to whether Trump's statements were accurate or not.  First, 60 judges found that to be the problem:  insufficient evidence existed to support Trump's legal claims.  Second:  don't follow the red herring.  It doesn't matter whether what Trump said was true or false.  Did he say it to incite the crowds?  The evidence just from news accounts is:  YES!!!!!!!!!!!!  And onto that garbage fire Lindsay Graham wants to throw the kerosene of the FBI being forced to provide testimony?  (Which, btw, is never gonna happen.  The gap between statements in front of TV cameras and demands on the Senate floor are huge.  Unless the House managers are smart enough to call Linday's bluff, that is.)

It's not the legal arguments that matter.  They aren't even window dressing.  It's the factual arguments that matter, and fortunately for the House managers there's videotape!  In a post-literate world (this trial is for the American public, not the GOP Senators), that's gold, Jerry!  Gold!  The more the House talks about Trump inciting the crowds; the more they play tape of rioters saying Trump told them to come to this party; the better.  Whether Trump lied or told the truth or believed the ghost of Hugo Chavez conspired with blue aliens to make Democrats dressed as Trump voters go to the polls and change votes using mind power, is irrelevant.  What the White House wanted was a march on the Capitol Building (per NYT/Axios reports), and what they got was an assault on government itself (which, for better or worse, is what the Congress is).  Ignorance of the law ("we didn't know we were conspiring to commit sedition!  We thought we had a First Amendment right to break out windows and smash open doors and demand Nancy Pelosi hear our demands!") is not a defense.  I'm not even sure it's a good factual claim.

Honestly, Trump would be better off staying in Mar-A-Lago and telling the House managers to pound sand.  But grifters gotta grift.  I think Mitch McConnell sees the outcome of this catastrophe, and he doesn't like what he sees:
McConnell wants to name this problem "MTG" and leave it at that. Trump is determined not to make it that easy. And if Trump's lawyer gets his way: Maybe the House managers should call some Congressional witnesses of their own: I really, really, REALLY, want the trial to be about what happened at the Capitol.  Trump is going to "win;" but reality is going to win bigger.
"But, you know, he's out of office now! Nothing we can do about it!"--The GOP Senators

Yeah; good luck with that.
at

2 comments:

  1. The Thought Criminal4:07 PM

    The price will be paid if the Republicans find themselves unable to win elections. Trump's when he's hauled in front of courts and sued into the flames of hell,his brats, including Jared, answering for their crimes, perhaps the Don too. The punishment of presidents by impeachment is a Constitutional fiction that the totally inadequate and dangerous presidential system of government includes as a totally inadequate control over a crook in the presidency. After this past four years anyone who thinks there is any wisdom in the American system of government is in denial of reality. There is no perfect system of government but the one we have is about totally rotted out, though we're still required to genuflect and worship it and its pretty shifty inventors.

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  2. Rmj5:30 PM

    Gotta agree. I am looking forward to the criminal and civil trials. Yelling about election fraud and finding lawyers to make shit up for Hannity won’t do Trump any good at all.

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