As I write this it's 1:35 a.m. and it's all over but the cryin'. Sometime in the next eighteen hours will likely come the final vote on Impeachment 2020 and the end of this mess. Donald John Trump will remain President of the United States for another year and quite possibly more than that.I've never doubted the outcome. Trump had this in the bag on a party-line vote alone. But I never thought that the final days of this fiasco would be such a bewildering demonstration of both brilliance and ignorance. This impeachment will be studied for generations to come about how not to impeach, as well as how to effectively counter one.
So, admitting that I only took time to watch the trial proceedings itself during the past few days, here are some sundry musings...
1. "Abuse of power" and "obstruction of Congress" are not impeachable offenses. I don't even know what the hell "obstruction of Congress" is supposed to mean in this context.
2. There will be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth in coming days and weeks about the issue of witnesses during the Senate trial phase. Namely, about the House impeachment managers wanting John Bolton to testify. They are forgetting that witnesses had already testified during the impeachment hearings.
3. The trial is based on testimony and evidence already presented and entered into record during the House impeachment proceedings. The Senate trial is absolutely not the place to introduce new witnesses and evidence.
4. The House managers betrayed a lack of faith in their own case by demanding new witnesses this late in the game.
5. The table at which the Trump counsel sat looked neat, dignified, corporate, razor-focused and serious. Meanwhile the table of the House managers resembled a cram session of some college frat house, all that's missing are the boxes of cold pizza.
6. Speaking of Trump's legal representation, any reputable law professor should make required viewing of the performance of Sekulow, Dershowitz, Philbin et al. They have 10000% been the model of what competent attorneys should be in regard to the interest of the client.
7. In stark contrast, the House managers' case has been very little apart from retread of the past three months, excruciatingly drawn out, absent any fresh or sound legal argument, and loaded with weary political rhetoric.
8. Okay, this one sticks out like a sore thumb to me. During this final day of Senate questioning I heard Adam Schiff and the other House managers insist that they want a "fair trial", hence more witnesses. They were completely ignoring the basic underpinnings of how the trial process under United States law works and has always been intended to work. The American courtroom is an adversarial arena, prosecutor versus defendant, and the onus is on the prosecutor to prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendant. Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler and the rest of the managers have instead all along played this as if it's up to Trump himself to provide evidence and testimony that he's guilty. Trump has not done this. Neither is any other defendant under American law obligated to so testify against himself or herself. I think during the second half of the impeachment trial when it became glaringly obvious that theirs was a lost cause, the managers dropped even a semblance of pretending they wanted a "fair trial" and began attempting to rig the game. Hence, trying to bring John Bolton into the mix. That alone screamed how much of a sham this impeachment has been from the beginning.
9. The House managers should be really thankful that they didn't get witnesses during the Senate trial. Not I, or any criminal law expert, or sane American for that matter, would not think for an iota of a moment that the Trump team would NOT pounce and begin calling witnesses of their own. And it would be an unprecedented fiasco. Indeed, potentially calling Hunter Biden to take the stand, and maybe even Adam Schiff himself, the "whistleblower", former Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden... the Trump counsel would find any and every reason to have them sworn and testify on the stand. And the result would be a crippling blow to the Democrat Party from which it might never recover.
10. I am chuckling at the ignorance many are radiating tonight, that in the event of a 50-50 tie on the witnesses issue, how Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will cast the deciding vote. Roberts is not a member of the Senate. He represents an entirely separate branch of government. If fair is truly fair, then Vice President Pence will break the tie and some will say that Trump himself would be entitled to the vote.
11. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will go down as the conductor of the sloppiest, most mismanaged prosecution effort in the history of anything. Had this been a criminal proceeding, the jury would have spent five minutes before returning a "not guilty" verdict. She had her eyes on the prize but had no vision whatsoever of how to achieve it.
12. I expect that this coming Tuesday night's State of the Union address is gonna be a LOT of fun to behold.
So much else that could come to mind, but it's late already. Maybe better legal minds than mine can remark on whatever I've missed here.
