AFTERMATH

And so it is over. I watched every minute of it, bored, transfixed, outraged, delighted, and again bored. The result was better than I had expected. Seven Republicans rather than five, including North Carolina’s very own Richard Burr. The only thing that could have changed the outcome would have been a dramatic statement from Mike Pence. Good luck with that.

 

I have a handful of random observations about the experience.

 

First of all, I really loved the fact that in the end Trump had to go with a Philadelphia lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases. My guess is that lawyer has more experience than high-class lawyers in dealing with clients who stiff him for his fees so maybe he will get paid something in the end. At one point, those of you who watched it all may recall, he said something so ridiculous that the senators laughed. Somewhat startled, he responded “I do not know why you are laughing.” It reminded me of that delicious moment when Trump addressed the United Nations, indulged in one of his usual bits of braggadocio, and was surprised to get a round of laughter from the delegates.

 

I spent a great deal of time quite literally shouting at the TV to the distress and astonishment of my wife. The cause was the complete inability of virtually everybody to remember the simple fact that Trump was not then being impeached, he was being tried. Raskin pointed this out once or twice but he did not hammer it home in a way that would stop the brainless commentators from repeatedly talking about whether a president could be “impeached after leaving office,” totally oblivious to the fact that he had in fact been impeached when in office. I toggled between MSNBC and CNN and I do not think I heard a single high paid commentator who could get this simple fact into his or her brain. Well, as you can see, I am still yelling at the TV.

 

The day after the trial ended the commentators seemed obsessed with the question whether the Democrats had “folded like a cheap suit” for failing to call witnesses. This, it was somberly opined, was just one more example of the inability of the Democrats to fight like Republicans. This all struck me as mindlessly stupid. There was a serious question whether Kevin McCarthy would confirm the reports of a shouting match with Trump. There were indications that if the Democrats called witnesses and the trial dragged on they would lose the vote of Sen. Richard Burr. There was no reason at all to suppose that calling witnesses would change anybody’s vote from not guilty to guilty. Since everybody agreed that the House managers had done a brilliant job, why could not the commentators trust their judgment in this matter?

 

Finally I come to Mitch McConnell’s extraordinary speech. McConnell made a big point of noting that Trump was still criminally liable for everything he had done the past four years, assuming, as he was careful to point out, that the statute of limitations had not run out. Since McConnell is not stupid one must assume that he was deliberately obfuscating the central point, which of course is that the purpose of impeachment and trial by the Senate is to remove from office someone who has not yet left that office and also, by a subsequent vote, to prohibit him or her from ever holding office again. Hauling Trump into a court of law, charging him with a felony, convicting him, and putting him in jail cannot bar him from running for the presidency again. Nothing can do that save impeachment, conviction, and disqualification. It is worth remembering that Trump could perfectly well run for president in 2024 even if, as I devoutly hope, he is then in jail. Let me remind those of you who are a little bit dim on socialist party history that Eugene V. Debs ran for the presidency on the Socialist ticket in 1920 while in jail.  He got 3.4% of the vote. Those were better days, sigh.

 

I leave you all with a question which has been lurking in the back of my mind: is Mike Pence in a witness protection program or will he someday resurface?