I finally watched some clips and replays from the hearings, especially Adam Schiff's closing summation which displayed a decorum and reliance on facts that we don't often see these days in footage of the House or Senate or even the town council in some small burgs. If I knew more about his positions, I might find myself wishing Schiff was running for President…though I guess he wouldn't be as effective as a House impeachment Manager if he was.
I think he and the other House Managers did about as good a job as they could do playing a rigged game. Today, Republicans seem to be dismissing it all saying "they didn't have the information" while Trump brags that he managed to stonewall and not give them the information they wanted. Seems to me the Dems went through all this for two main reasons. One is that the rank-and-file members of their party were demanding they had to do something and this keeps those folks from getting frustrated that their party is not willing to fight.
And the second reason is to force all the Republicans who are up for re-election to tether themselves to Trump. A lot of Repubs are in districts and states where blind obedience and/or cowardice to D.J.T. is a liability and now they're blamable for every crooked thing Trump does in the future. Wouldn't you like to be the Democrat running against Martha McSally in Arizona after she votes to let Trump keep doing what he's doing?
Anyway, that's about all I want to say about this now. I'd like to remind you that I believe there will be dozens of new issues before we vote for President and that this race will get messier and angrier and that it will ultimately be about a number of things that haven't occurred or been exposed yet. Therefore…
If someone on the other side tells you that your side is definitely going to lose, they're probably trying to do one of both of two things. One is to convince themselves that it's going to go that way when they worry it won't. The other is to enjoy the expression on your face if that statement drives you into any visible amount of despair. Some people just like to say things to upset others…which reminds me: I will soon have another post up here on the topic of schadenfreude.
And if someone on your side tells you that your side is definitely going to lose, they're probably just the kind of people who go through life giving up before there's any reason to or expecting the worst to always happen.
Although I do think it's not too soon to presume Senate Republicans will vote unanimously to acquit and Trump will claim that this is incontrovertible proof that he's never done anything illegal or even unwise in his entire life and since all investigations and accusations against him are false, we need to punish those who make them.