House impeachment managers on Sunday stood by their decision to not call witnesses to help make their case a day after former President Trump was acquitted for “incitement of insurrection.”
So much for the “Lucy and the football” argument. Some may not agree with their decision, but these folks are neither gullible nor foolish.
It seems to me there’s a real danger of getting caught up in a coulda-woulda-shoulda that primarily serves to let the reactionaries off the hook.
Daniel Goldman had a twitter thread today in which he reviewed the questions around the House managers’ decision and concluded that, as they got what they wanted (Herrera Beutler’s statement entered into the evidence) without any significant downside, it was likely the best decision.
The case was very strong; so, I’ll accept that and remember that the reactionaries’ decision to acquit on a spurious justification was unlikely to be changed, regardless of the evidence presented. The problem was their corruption, not the managers’ case.
This team put on a stellar case, start to finish. They made the right call on witnesses.
I am glad they are getting out there. While I was disappointed that we didn’t get riveting testimony in the person of certain individuals, I think we can trust their instincts on this. They did a superb job in making the case against Who?. I can imagine uncooperative witnesses muddying the waters and taking the focus away from where we want it. Swaying R Senators is irrelevant. Would witnesses have convinced more of the public of Who?'s malfeasance? That is a real crapshoot. I think more is to be gained by the efforts now to promote this as a win for our side and a confirmation of Who?'s guilt.
They proved everything they needed to prove and laid down markers for state prosecutors and DOJ. I am really, really impressed with their acumen and tough-mindedness.
The Libertarian assault on Democracy has reached the Constitution itself, and so we should expect to see more jury nullification of the Constitution by Republicans.
Glad they’re all out there reaffirming their positions. They were not going to change any more minds.
We have a new administration and if the trial had gone on for months, legislation would have come to a halt. Passing bills is already going to be a challenge and Biden has inherited the worst mess ever.
I knew he wouldn’t be convicted, but when you saw the brilliance of the layout and organization of the House managers, you couldn’t help but think, maybe, just maybe.
The House is lucky to have people that have the training and smarts to think like this.
It depends on who your audience is. The managers are right that witnesses likely would not have convinced more senators. Would witnesses have furthered the case in the court of public opinion? Dunno. But, as others have pointed out, the trial is over and the managers made a compelling case. Second-guessing only shifts the focus from where it should be now: tRump’s criminality and the cowardice of most GOP senators
The media always has to pretend that Republicans are people to be trusted, and they always ignore the long history of bad behavior. Aren’t House Dems still trying to get testimony from McGahn.
71% of the public believes Trump at least played a role in sending that mob.
I think that the calculation was that they were never going to get a conviction so it was important to wrap the whole thing up before people got tired of the process. The Democrats had already proven their case to anyone who was paying attention. To go beyond what they had already done would have been beating a dead horse at the risk of alienating those who claimed they should be doing more important things.
What could witnesses have possibly proven that had not already been proven conclusively to anyone who actually cared?
It sure felt like that at the beginning, but our expectations were at fault, not the Managers.
Yeah, that was part of Daniel Goldman’s analysis, that once you got into unwilling witnesses, trying to get their testimony would open a real Pandora’s box of legal contention.
As an example, witnesses from the executive branch could appeal to Executive Privilege, which could tie the question of their testimony up in the courts for months.
In general, I agree.
I suppose the Democrats made two right calls on witnesses: first to ask for witnesses and then to not ask for witnesses.
Try years. They never did get the testimony of the folks over the Mueller report.
We already knew for weeks that the Republican Senate would not vote to convict no matter what evidence Democrats showed. As it is I’m surprise that Democrats receive seven Republicans to vote to convict and give these seven credit for upholding their Oath of Office. The other 43 are a disgrace to this nation the American people and their Oath to the Constitution. Many of the 43 need to be fully investigated for any role they may have played in the insurrection, and many need to be charged with election tampering such as Lindsey Graham and his pressuring of election officials to toss out valid election ballots of Democrats so that Trump could win. This nation can’t heal until the people involved in the BIG LIE are prosecuted and sent to jail, this includes the Conservative Far Right Media of FOX News, NewsMAX, OAN and Conservative Talk Radio for their constant misinformation and outright lies they told to their audience. The Constitution only give the right to Free Speech to say what you want to the government without repercussions, it doesn’t say that any entity can spread false information or outright lies which could cause great harm. This is what right wing media has been doing, spread great harm across the nation.
Alas, only half polled think he should have been convicted, but that says more about American politics than the managers’ case:
While I’ll admit I was initially disappointed the managers decided not to proceed with witnesses, I see now, after a chance to think dispassionately, that it was the correct move.
We will win elections in 2022 and beyond not because of this trial, but if we bring needed relief to the American people. After all, we won the election almost solely because of Trump’s abysmal failure to address Covid, and not because he’s a corrupt, lying hack and national security threat, as disappointing as that is to me. But it stands to reason we will win again by fixing what ails America.
I don’t think it would have made any difference. The only solution is to defeat the Republican party decisively in 2022 and keep beating them decisively until they decide that being an American first is more important than being a Trump follower.