There’s a lot of stuff that wasn’t caught on camera, or even known until weeks after the Trump Insurrection. Like,
was the Pentagon ordered to stand down and to refuse to release the DC National Guard?
What were orders to the local fuzz, particularly as the angry, armed mob approached the Capitol building?
How about some eyewitness accounts of Trump’s response as the insurrection proceeded? Supposedly he was asked to order a response, to shut down the riot – and refused. Is this true, and who could testify?
And how about his gleeful watching of the teevie coverage? Apparently some saw this and anonymously told reporters. Put them on the stand.
That, and subpoena the jackass. Let him incriminate himself and commit perjury. Let him be the shameful spectacle that Republican Senators will try to defend. And use the video and the vote of each and every Republican against them in the 2022 election.
In the end Trump will be acquitted and I see the logic in avoiding ridiculous GOP witnesses soaking up time with their soapbox of lies, turning the whole trial into convoluted, “both sides” gibberish, with a bored public tuning it all out quickly.
Hard, fast accusation, video evidence and a vote. You may not agree, but I see how it is an attractive method.
Don’t sell The President short. He’s been moving at lightspeed since he took the oath of office, and not letting either “comity” or “bipartisanship” get in his way.
Oh, wait! I just noticed this is from Politico, which means, of course, that an anonymous custodian who was cleaning the toilet in the Senate bathroom heard an anonymous cleaning woman saying that she heard that an anonymous senate aide saying that…
To expand on your Hold em metaphor, one of the strengths of Republican pols is that they are always willing to go ‘All in’. By contrast, Dems always seem to be searching for reasons to fold. Hold the trial and do it right and let the consequences play out as they will.
I’ve heard some shitty ideas in my time. Most of those involved questions like, “What should we do with all this chicken shit?” The answer was almost always, “Put it in the composter.”
That is where this idea belongs, along with the rest of the chicken shit.
Well, one argument is that, this time around, House and Senate Democrats, instead of focusing on Trump, can work with a Democratic President to Get Things Done for the American People.
This option (or opportunity) was not available last time around.
Ya know, ya tune in to the Super Bowl and the big favorite Kansas City team is down 19 but they have the ball and are known to come from behind and they toss a desperate fourth and a bunch pass that gets intercepted and Tampa Bay scores another touchdown and oh well let’s see what’s on Netflix.
The difference is it doesn’t matter in the least to the nation’s future who wins a football game.
If your argument is that calling witnesses doesn’t matter because Republicans will never vote to convict then your arguing to not even have a trial at all, which is the Republican argument.
Do the right thing and hold a proper trial, if Republicans don’t vote to convict then that’s on them.
The audience here isn’t the Senators; it’s the public. The public is already in favor of conviction by a modest margin, whereas last time they were modestly for acquittal. The goal of the trial is to turn the public solidly in favor of conviction.
Will that move some Senators? It could, but even if it doesn’t, it will give a boost to Democrats in 2022 and help push the Biden agenda forward,
Personally, I welcome the GOP witnesses. Who are they going to call that have any credibility whatsoever and are not out of their fucking gourds with insane legal arguments and outright lies? And if they even dare think about calling Dem Senators or Reps to make ridiculous comparisons between the BLM protests and the January 6th insurrection, they just set up the Dems to call Gaetz, Boebert, Cruz, Hawley, Johnson, etc. as witnesses in response.
As someone once famously said years ago during a political debate: “Please proceed!”
What I’m getting from this is Sen Schumer doesn’t think any Republican members of the Senate will vote to convict. OK, and he’s probably correct. So he wants to shorten the proceeding so they can get to other stuff, sort of see his point. But Chuck these are not normal times, thus extraordinary effort will be asked of the Dems in the Senate and you as majority leader.
Having witnesses will prolong the proceeding, but it is important to hear from those that were involved. Those that were affected by Trump’s words, and those that could tell what it was like to be face to face with a crowd out for blood.
Then there’s the part where we the people to hear their experiences. Then there will be the Republicans on the news pish-poshing those eye witness accounts. The American public needs to hear how this was set up, who encouraged it, and what the cost-money wise will be. We need the Mitches and Lindsey’s to go on Twitter or Fox to poo-poo what was said at the proceedings.
Just remember even though Barf K is sitting on the SC we all got to see in real time his outrage at a woman who had the gall to state that he assaulted her, and recklessly could have killed her by his drunken actions.
This may be a foregone conclusion that Trump won’t be convicted by these sitting Republicans, but damn it, video lives on past an election cycle.
