Last Saturday I published here a piece titled “It May Not Be in the Democrats’ Interest to Win Their Fight Over Witnesses and Documents.” I made a case for that idea: i.e.
that it’s good in their battle against Trump in that this fake trial can in no way “exonerate” Trump, as many have noted; moreover, we all know that even if there had been witnesses and documents proving still further Trump’s profound guilt, the Republican-controlled Senate would still have “acquitted” him. that it’s good in their battle against the Trump Party, because their choice to be Trump’s accomplices in his cover-up — contrary to what the Constitution requires of Presidents and Senators — more fully exposes the moral bankruptcy of today’s Republican Party; moreover, their choice to prevent the American people from seeing the full picture of what their President has been doing with the powers with which they entrusted him thwarted the desires of some 75% of the American people.In the article, I indicated that I was not certain whether I was right, i.e. whether my case for the advantages of having the Republicans block further evidence actually outweighed the case for the advantages of having the trial prolonged and the American people further exposed to the picture of Trump’s serious wrong-doing.
And as this drama has unfolded since then — from the emergence of the evidence from John Bolton’s forthcoming book to the caving in of Senators Alexander and Murkowski — I have found myself wanting things to go otherwise than what I argued for. I.e., I’ve found myself wanting the Senate to be able to do the right thing and conduct a trial that contains what everyone understands a real trial requires.
But here we are. As I write, it is a foregone conclusion that McConnell and his minions will achieve the cover-up that Trump wants. And whether that will prove to be a victory for them, or the means of their undoing, remains to be seen.
And which it is — the triumph of this evil on the right, or an over-reach that will help bring them down — depends on two crucial things going forward:
First, whether the Democrats will be able to orchestrate a powerful campaign of denunciation and condemnation against the perpetrators of this constitutional atrocity — which will culminate shortly in the “acquittal” of a President whose dictatorial inclinations are on full display and threaten the very foundations of American democracy.
(This is something that has been a terrible weakness of the Democrats for the past generation, as the Republican Party has devolved into the disgraceful thing we now see shooting the U.S. Constitution in the head.)
And second, whether a sufficient portion of the American people can see what’s in front of them, can hear a message of moral truth when it’s being told to them, and care enough about “truth, justice, and the American way” to reject those who have sided with “lies, injustice, and the assault on basic American values.”
(I just read a piece seeking to explain the catastrophic defeat of the Labour Party in last month’s elections in the U.K. and it contains the sentence:
Despite abundant evidence from around the world, many people still find it hard to accept that flagrant lying is no longer a disqualification in public life, and that it might in fact be an attraction.
Which is certainly scary.)