WHY BOTHER WITH A SENATE TRIAL FOR TRUMP?: LET US COUNT THE WAYS

 

As expected, the United States Senate acquitted former President Donald Trump on impeachment charges last Saturday. Seven Republicans joined 48 Democrats and two independents in support of convicting Trump, making it 57-43, ten votes shy of the 67 needed. Trump was charged with inciting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and not trying to stop the carnage.

The seven Republican votes made it the most bipartisan impeachment trial in U.S. history.

Though House impeachment managers put on a brilliant case, Republicans fearful of a back-lash from the Trump base, ignored the evidence and acquitted him, leaving Trump still eligible for public office.

Many GOP senators hid behind the discredited jurisdiction rationale – the idea the Senate couldn’t convict a former president since he’d already left office. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell relied on

that rationale in justifying his own acquittal vote, despite admitting the House managers proved their case. The no jurisdiction theory flew in the face of established precedent and the plain text of the constitution. The idea, however, provided enough of a fig leaf that Republicans exonerated Trump with the semblance of a straight face.

Even some progressives, knowing the likely outcome, asked why the senate

bothered with the trial. They said it distracted from President Joe Biden’s agenda (time will tell about that) and put Trump in the spotlight when the country should move on to other things. With all due respect to such views, we saw at least five reasons the senate proceeded as it should have:

        (1) Democracy Matters

The riveting presentations by the House managers – tightly scripted, efficient, and brimming with new video evidence – showed the United States values democracy and the rule of law. An effort at holding Trump accountable for the January 6 insurrection mattered more in terms of preserving basic principles of our system than outcome. Besides, the chance of bringing Trump to justice hasn’t passed. He still faces criminal investigations, including a new one by a prosecutor in Georgia over his attempts at reversing the election outcome in that state. Trump’s impeachment lawyers seemingly invited criminal prosecution as an alternative to conviction in the senate, as did

McConnell. We’re not reticent about seeing a former president found guilty of criminal charges thrown in jail. If the Secret Service must learn how it guards a protectee in prison, so be it.  

 

      (2)  A Nation Watching

We won’t know the full impact of the trial on public opinion for a little while. As it began, most polls showed a narrow majority in favor of conviction, 52-48 in several surveys. Those polls didn’t fully reflect the effect of the

prosecution’s case. We can’t imagine the horrendous scenes of assaults on police officers and lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives didn’t change some minds. Republicans who 

voted ‘no’ presumably are betting whatever negative effects the trial had on their party will fade.  Maybe, but we can already envision Democratic consultants screening the video for use in television and internet ads against Republicans in future campaigns. Is this really what Americans want from their leaders? Republicans who decided they couldn’t cross Trump and his supporters may find themselves in disfavor with other voters in coming elections, even if they survive dreaded primary challenges.

 

(3)  A World Watching   

Whatever the public reaction in this country, the fact the trial happened should have helped

America’s tattered reputation around the globe. The United States is making an international comeback, having rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization. The new president’s effort at controlling the virus should help show the U.S. as a responsible world citizen again. Holding the trial demonstrated to countries around the world we will at least try drawing lines at abhorrent behavior by our presidents. We will use our institutions in service of protecting our values, even if we fail.

 

(4) We Care

Going forward with the trial demonstrated a level of concern about doing the

right thing, even if we didn’t get the right outcome. The trial was as much for the history books as for today. No one 100 years from now can say we just didn’t care when a lawless president incited an armed insurrection aimed at overturning the outcome of a free and fair election and preventing a peaceful transition of power. No, it didn’t turn out right, but we tried, and posterity will take note of that.

 

      (5) Trials and Truth

Trials are not perfect vehicles for arriving at truth, but they’re better than most anything else this society or any other has for achieving that goal. As a result of hearing and seeing the difference between the exquisite presentations

by the House managers and the disjointed, angry, sometimes unintelligible offerings by Trump’s overmatched lawyers, Americans got a clear picture of what’s true and what’s not. Anyone who watched any significant part of the proceedings understands exactly what happened on January 6 and the implications of that tragic event.

All three of us tried lawsuits during our legal careers and one of us presided over hundreds of them as a judge. We know firsthand how the presentation of conflicting

stories helps clarify an event and reveals the truth as best we can ascertain it. The second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump served that function for the American people, an exercise they very  much needed.    

TRUMP’S SENATORS: STAYING TRUE NO MATTER WHAT

As the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump moves into its second week, little has occurred that challenges the conventional

wisdom it will end in an acquittal. Almost no cracks have appeared in Trump's wall of 53 loyal Republican senators. Polling shows the public wants testimony from

Mick Mulvaney

witnesses like White House Chief-of-Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and State Secretary Mike Pompeo. The public also supports subpoenaing executive branch documents Trump ordered withheld.

Whether either occurs remains in doubt and depends on four Republicans joining 47 Democrats in voting for witnesses and documents.

The slavish devotion Republican senators show for Trump, quite frankly, stuns us and we debated the possible reasons. We can’t get into those 53 heads, but we can examine

possible explanations, given what we know about human nature and the current political environment. It seems likely different considerations motivate different senators, so we can’t paint with too broad a brush. Still, we have some ideas.

The Dark Side

Some Republican senators, like some Democratic senators, operate on raging ideological convictions. As for Trump’s supporting senators, we see their objectives rooted in troubling, dark motivations. They

have  seen Trump at his worst and like what they see. These senators will, therefore, do anything necessary for protecting him and the power he wields. Put bluntly, this group of senators likes, maybe even adores, Trump’s white nationalism and xenophobia. His  “good people on both sides"

response after the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in August 2017 provided this group with confirmation that they had found their man.

Senators in this category no doubt see Trump’s potential conviction as an existential threat to their way of looking at the world. They need Trump in office for the support and legitimacy he gives their cause. They cannot tolerate anything that might take him out of his lofty position. These senators live in a dark, unredeemable world reflecting the worst in America, demonstrating that no matter this nation’s greatness, we aren’t a perfect people.

The Usual Suspects

Much of the attention in the debate over

witnesses and documents focuses on four or five  GOP “moderates” who might break from the team that Trump coaches and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quarterbacks. Whenever a controversial, party-line dispute erupts, the media and some Democrats parade them around as “getable” – Republican senators

who might jump ship and vote against Supreme Court nominee or, in the impeachment trial, in favor of issuing subpoenas for witnesses and documents. Their names are so familiar now as to (almost) not need repeating here – Susan Collins of Maine, Utah’s Mitt Romney, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander. For all the noise and false hope they  generate, however, almost always they get on board and stick with the team. Nothing has happened yet in this saga suggesting otherwise though, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says, “Hope springs eternal.”

Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler 

United States Senator sounds like a good job.

It  pays $174,000 a year (median U.S. household income is about $62K), provides generous health care and retirement benefits, and offers world-wide travel opportunities. It also comes

with perks -- people return your phone calls, you appear on television a lot, you get called “Chairman” if you run a committee. It’s sometimes a springboard to the presidency. We won’t even get into all the  money – making opportunities, above board and otherwise. We assume it’s the best job many senators ever had or will have. No wonder they work so hard at getting re-elected.

We’re confident many of Trump’s senators fall into this category – men and women who’ve recognized how good things are and won’t do anything that might jeopardize keeping the office. We think these Republicans have made a calculation – a business decision – that remaining in the senate, as they so desperately want, requires sticking with Trump. They’ve seen Trump punish wayward souls with Tweetstorms, insults in the broadcast media, and, ultimately, primary opponents. 

                   

We suspect these senators act only tangentially for ideological reasons. Sure, one or two things – confirmation of right-wing federal judges, property rights, disdain for federal regulation – motivates some of them, but that’s often secondary.  We know they’ve forgotten traditional Republican fiscal responsibility because they accept Trump’s historical deficits. They’ve been silent in the face of his coziness with

Vladimir Putin and other human rights violators. They haven’t promoted democratic values by insisting on a fair impeachment trial in the senate they control. We wonder how much they value government with three co-equal branches, defined by a system of checks and balances.   

   

We also think it unlikely their motivation resides in dedication to or affection for Trump, or from respect for his intellect and policy acumen. Many senators reportedly shake their heads at his incompetence and ignorance of simple issues, while cringing at the difficulty he has with complex problems.

This cohort of senators – we don’t know its size – most fears losing their perks. Knowing how Trump treats those who stray, they can’t take the chance of putting daylight between themselves and the man in the White House. Having made their calculation, they sit through the trial, listen fretfully to the utterly persuasive case presented by the House managers, will vote for Trump’s acquittal, then return to their regularly scheduled lives of privilege. Yes, let the good times roll.