Day 1,107: Cowardly Republicans spew cowardly words during cowardly defense of Trump impeachment
Rubio admits Trump’s actions impeachable, but doesn’t want to remove him.
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is ending the same way it began: rigged. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a juror in Trump’s trial, is coordinating the acquittal date with Trump, the defendant in said trial.
Friday, Republicans stuck a final stake in the minute possibility of a fair trial — and maybe the reputation for the Senate as being the “world’s greatest deliberative body” — by voting down the ability to subpoena witnesses. The final tally was 51–49, with only two Republicans and all 49 Democrats wanting to flesh out as much information as possible. Trump’s trial marks the first impeachment trial in American history to have no witnesses called.
That flies wildly in the face of public opinion, which reveals large bipartisan support for witnesses.
Republicans’ remarks over the past few days have shown complete and utter cowardice, even as Trump’s lawyers argue that he should be given authoritarian-like power.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) claimed she didn’t like the rules of the trial or the lack of bipartisanship, so she voted against changing the rules and kept the proceedings partisan.
Others, like Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), offered zero defense for Trump, despite the “13 witnesses and 28,000 pages of evidence” against him.
The most feckless statements came Republicans who admitted Trump’s actions were wrong but simply don’t care.
One of those men was Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who wrung his hands and said Trump’s actions weren’t appropriate, but were also not impeachable.
Similarly, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), retiring at the end of the year and touting a reputation as an institutionalist, decided his last major move in the Senate would be to make a farce of the trial, despite the House managers proving their case against Trump. Alexander found Trump’s actions “inappropriate,” but doesn’t think he should be removed for them.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) tried to forge a path as a moderate Republican for about five minutes before acquiescing to virtually everything Trump asked. Now, with the spotlight squarely on the Senate, and his vote rarely being more important, Sasse couldn’t even find the fortitude to say much of anything outside a general agreement with Alexander’s statements.
And then there’s Sen. “Little” Marco Rubio (R-FL), who took things a step further. Rubio admitted that what Trump did was impeachable, but said he still wouldn’t vote to remove him.
On top of all of these, there are the handful of sycophants that claim that asking a foreign nation to meddle in a U.S. election by kneecapping your political opponent is perfectly acceptable.
And there are dozens of senators in self-imposed exile, hiding and cowering in their offices, trying to say as little as possible. They know there’s no defending their choices and their votes, so they remain quiet and hope the focus remains on others.
1,107 days in, 355 to go
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