Trump’s Second Trial Confirms All is Not Well in Washington
Much ado about nothing, or is it the sound and the fury, signifying nothing?
In the next few days, all of us who are interested will get a chance to watch video of the January 6 assault on the Capitol and the Trump speech that incited it. The scenes, some of which may be new footage, will reignite our anger and demands for accountability. We may hope that a miracle will happen. Or that Trump will be convicted.
This won’t happen. Forty-five Republican Senators have already tipped their hand. They found a convenient excuse not to vote to convict Trump. Just say the trial itself is unconstitutional. This claim is, of course, without foundation. It will suffice, however, to help the nervous legislators slip out the back door. When asked about why Trump wasn’t convicted, they can claim that they would have so voted had the trial itself not been bogus.
What we have here is political theater. The show is part comedy and part tragedy. The spectacle of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, newly elected Tommy Tuberville, and others defending a traitor will have an element of comedy in it. What type of a Senator stands up for a defendant that once accused his father of complicity in the murder of JFK? Or who was subject to a snide implication that his endowment is smaller than that of the average community college? The tragedy is the realization that so many legislators don’t have the courage to do what is right. Political expediency will triumph over justice.
All this theater is well and good, but it tells us, once again, that all is not well in Washington. It tells us that the hoped-for honeymoon of bipartisanship and full departure of Trump from the political arena are not happening and, most likely, won’t. If this is true, it will not surprise political insiders, most of whom are immune to hope and expect the worst, not only from Republicans, but from all modern-day politicians.
I will not watch the entire trial. I have better things to do, like walking my dog and maybe watching a Jeopardy! rerun. Instead, I will depend on YouTube, MSNBC, CNN, and other outlets that will broadcast the highlights. I have already read the House managers’ brief on the case. It’s a real page-turner. Trump’s response is not quite as interesting, but at least it’s short.
Think ahead to how we will be talking about this second impeachment trial a couple of weeks after it is over. We won’t. It will become a footnote in the history of this current, dark period. The sound and fury of the next couple weeks will, in the long run, signify nothing.
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