When is Over, Over?

Some of you may not want to hear this from me, but I’m not entirely disappointed that the Senate’s Republican majority voted down having witnesses during the presidential impeachment trial. I think the Republican majority vote would have been exactly the same if there were 50 witnesses, with the trial lasting many weeks. It might have given the Republicans a chance to say that the procedure was fair. A parade of witnesses doesn’t make fairness. That’s a matter, in this case, for each individual senator.

The problem is, there’s no flexibility on the sentence. The fact that a guilty vote of two-thirds of senators is a political death penalty is exactly the reason why it may never happen. But it’s not supposed to be easy. The Democrats have an open-and-shut case, and even Lamar Alexander of Tennessee thought they had proved it. He just wasn’t ready to remove Trump from office.  I do have a little sympathy for any senator who agrees that crimes have been committed, but who is also reluctant to put the country through a Presidential removal, replacing him with Mike Pence, especially with only a few months left before an election. And Mr. Trump is at least the "devil we know."

I’m getting tired of the assertion that Trump’s crimes were not impeachable. That’s a misuse of language: he WAS impeached by the House, that cannot be erased, and will be a permanent asterisk next to his name. The impeachment has NOT been a waste of time.

The end of this trial, next Wednesday or whenever it happens, is not the end of the story. There still is the option of a censure vote, which would make it impossible for Mr. Trump to truthfully claim he was exonerated, and might give some Republican senators something of a moral off-ramp. They all have a chance in the coming week to give us an insight on what led each of them to their vote on impeachment.

After that, a senator who voted for acquittal can still be asked a follow-up question constantly for the next nine months: “You voted not to remove Mr. Trump from office, but does he deserve another four years?” A “no” answer may risk political suicide for a Republican senator, but could still be one of those moral off-ramps.

In the end, Friday’s vote was just another in the series of calls-to-arms to voters who want to make changes in November. Witnesses may not have been allowed in the impeachment trial, but much new information will find its way to the light, thanks to investigative reporters, book authors, interviewers, and maybe new whistle-blowers. Changing minds already made up is a difficult prospect, but new or previously inactive voters can make their voices heard, and send those signals that the Senate should have sent to future Presidents.