Trial By Partisanship

Today was the first day of Trump's second impeachment trial, and being a ROM with nothing but time on his hands, I say around and watched it all.  That's four hours of my life I'm never going to get back.  A day wasted.

The House impeachment managers spoke first.   They provided a gripping, detailed account of the events of the January 6 insurrection and Trump's role in it.  Two attorney congressmen gave detailed but easily comprehensible arguments on the constitutionality of the trial.  The opening speaker then gave an emotional account of his own experience that bloody day    It was persuasive stuff and they all had read their talking-points memo and said the phrase "No January exception" enough times that it may have sunk in.

Then Trump's defense team spoke.  The first attorney mumbled and digressed and never seemed to get to a point - if he ever had one to begin with.  He was like a senator back when filibusters meant you had to actually get up and talk to take up time, just rambling on and on.  Th next attorney tried at first to fire up the base, yelling that this was all nothing but a nefarious scheme by the dirty dingbat Democrats to besmirch a fine man, but then even he went off the rails and gave some incomprehensible legal argument in a staccato, shouting voice.  But no one was listening to what he was saying, because all anyone could think about was the weird way he kept drinking bottled water, putting one hand on the top of his head while he drank from the bottle with the other hand.   Neither attorney, it should be noted, ever suggested that Trump hadn't in fact done what the Democrats had just said he did - their only point was that he shouldn't be held accountable for it.

But at the end of the day, none of that mattered.  The Senate voted and decided mostly (but not entirely) along party lines that the trial was indeed constitutional and that they'd hear arguments tomorrow.  I firmly believe that no Republican who voted against the constitutionality of the trial really believed that, and that few really even understood the case.  They were simply afraid of the MAGA base and didn't want to be on record voting against Trump - look how badly that's turning out for Liz Cheney. Thy voted to save their own thin political skin, not with their conscience or to show leadership.  They were sheep, scared of their own constituencies. 

I really have to examine my life-style choices and what I want to do with myself before I decide if I want to watch the trial again tomorrow or not.