Profiles in cowardice

As difficult as it was to watch the first day of the impeachment trial, for me, the hardest part was realizing how feckless and cowardly 44 Republican senators proved themselves to be. It doesn’t take a constitutional scholar to recognize the idiocy of an argument that grants a January exception to a President that would allow high crimes and misdemeanors to be perpetrated without penalty if performed during the last month of office; but apparently that is what these Republicans are favoring.

The combination of their embracing that faulty logic plus the able presentation by the House Managers who detailed various examples of impeachment trials held for people no longer in office should have been more than sufficient to defang the desperately concocted effort to judge the impeachment trial unconstitutional. Clearly, logic and precedent didn’t make any difference. Notwithstanding their sacred oaths to preserve and protect the constitution, the intent of the 44 Senators who voted to derail the trial was preordained before the trial started. They should be hanging their heads in shame; and we should remember all of them for their betrayal and abrogation of their senatorial responsibilities.

Given this initial vote, there seems little reason to prolong the process. Trump has duly been marked as the only president to be impeached twice; and without doubt, history will judge him far harsher than the sycophants in this current senate class. So what’s the point of continuing the trial? Wrap it up. If what we’ve all witnessed so far hasn’t served to connect the dots between Trump’s big lie of winning the election by a landslide and the assault on our capital, nothing will.

From the time of the assault on the Capitol, some argued that a second impeachment of Trump was a fool’s errand, given the all-but-certain acquittal that would undoubtedly be trumpeted as a vindication by Trump and his supporters. I disagreed then and continue to do so even now. I wanted to offer one more chance for some Republicans to distance themselves from Trump and to forcefully renounce both his lies and his tactics; and I wanted a public reckoning as to who stood where. This test, completed now, transparently divides the patriots from the toadies. It’s inconceivable that any of the sellouts who voted to terminate the trial would now turn around and vote to hold Trump accountable or bar him from holding future office. The record is now clear for all to see. The trial’s work is over.

The truly scary aspect of this saga is that, in all likelihood, the next Republican candidate for president will be selected from this collection of morally challenged 44 Republicans. With this example of groupthink passing for leadership, the party is doomed — or worse. One of them might actually win in 2024! The stench of Trumpism promises to be with us for some time to come.

Lest we forget, the following is the rogues gallery comprised of those guilty of perpetuating this stain:

Barrasso, John — (R — WY)

Blackburn, Marsha — (R — TN)

Blunt, Roy — (R — MO)

Boozman, John — (R — AR)

Braun, Mike — (R — IN)

Burr, Richard — (R — NC)

Capito, Shelley Moore — (R — WV)

Cornyn, John — (R — TX)

Cotton, Tom — (R — AR)

Cramer, Kevin — (R — ND)

Crapo, Mike — (R — ID)

Cruz, Ted — (R — TX)

Daines, Steve — (R — MT)

Ernst, Joni — (R — IA)

Fischer, Deb — (R — NE)

Graham, Lindsey — (R — SC)

Grassley, Chuck — (R — IA)

Hagerty, Bill — (R — TN)

Hawley, Josh — (R — MO)

Hoeven, John — (R — ND)

Hyde-Smith, Cindy — (R — MS)

Inhofe, James M. — (R — OK)

Johnson, Ron — (R — WI)

Kennedy, John — (R — LA)

Lankford, James — (R — OK)

Lee, Mike — (R — UT)

Lummis, Cynthia M. — (R — WY)

Marshall, Roger, M.D. — (R — KS)

McConnell, Mitch — (R — KY)

Moran, Jerry — (R — KS)

Paul, Rand — (R — KY)

Portman, Rob — (R — OH)

Risch, James E. — (R — ID)

Rounds, Mike — (R — SD)

Rubio, Marco — (R — FL)

Scott, Rick — (R — FL)

Scott, Tim — (R — SC)

Shelby, Richard C. — (R — AL)

Sullivan, Dan — (R — AK)

Thune, John — (R — SD)

Tillis, Thom — (R — NC)

Tuberville, Tommy — (R — AL)

Wicker, Roger F. — (R — MS)

Young, Todd — (R — IN)