Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Impeachment Puts Senate on Trial
The impeachment trial of Donald Trump is almost certain to end in him remaining in office. The Republican Party is unwilling to remove him from office regardless of his misdeeds. The process is not about right and wrong, just and unjust. It is about holding and retaining power. That said, the way in which the Senate chooses to retain him in office will have a great deal to say about the US Senate as an institution as well as about the individual Senators voting on the matter.
This journal is convinced that Donald Trump has abused his offfice and obstructed Congress. He is also incompetent and dangerous. He should never have been elected. His behavior in the last three years has only served to illustrate just how unfit he is to hold that office. The articles of impeachment passed by the House are hardly exhaustive, but they are sufficient.
The Republican Party in the Congress takes the view that all of that is nonsense. They maintain the president did absolutely nothing wrong and that there is no reason at all for him to face removal. Even if everything the Democrats say is true, they argue that it does not rise to the level of impeachable behavior.
In this process, the Constitution says that the US Senate is the jury in the trial of the president. However, the same document makes the voters the ultimate court of appeal. If the US Senate chooses to acquit him without calling any witnesses nor admitting any documents into evidence, it will look as if the verdict is merely a cover-up. An open process, with a verdict openly arrived at, will go down better with the voters, even if the result is the exact same party line vote. There is a difference between an acquittal and an exhoneration. The Republicans have a vested interest in the latter.
The president will be retained in office, and he will be renominated. He will have a chance at re-election (this journal estimates it at 45%). The US Senators who are running for re-election will have him at the top of the ticket. If it looks to the voters like Mr. Trump was kept in office through a corrupt and closed process, they will likely take it out on the GOP down-ballot candidates in November.
Beyond the voters in November, there is the judgment of history to consider. Those legislators who have acted so as to enable Mr. Trump's bad behavior and poor execution of weak policy will bear some of the blame for the decline of the American Republic that occurs on his watch. They can reduce some of their culpability if they permit witnesses to testify and for documentary evidence to be considered. If the voters don't get to hear the facts, they cannot make an informed decision. Informed decisions are the cornerstone of electoral politics.
Sunshine remains the best disinfectant. If Mr. Trump wins re-election and the US Senate remains under Republican control after a full airing of the facts, so be it. However, without a full airing, there will always be suspicions about the validity of their re-election.
© Copyright 2020 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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