The biggest joke in Washington is Trump’s defense that his refusal is based on his desire to protect the presidency for all those who will hold the office in the future
By DOUGLAS BLOOMFIELDUS PRESIDENT Donald Trump celebrates with Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Congressional Republicans after the US Congress passed sweeping tax overhaul legislation in December.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Today’s beverage of choice in the Senate Republican cloakroom is Trump Kool-Aid. In Trumptown, the faithful are expected to show their loyalty to the cult leader by swallowing his deceitful beverage whole.Even before the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced he had no intention of honoring his solemn oath of “impartial justice” and instead he intended to coordinate closely with the White House.In a similar vein, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Trump’s part-time caddy, declared, “I’m not trying to be a fair juror here.” Just over four years ago he called Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot” who was “unfit for office.” Then Trump was elected, and Graham drank the Kool-Aid, hoping to be “relevant.”Other GOP senators said much the same. For the most part they want no witnesses, no documents and no new evidence.The six-page letter and lengthy brief filed by the president’s lawyers read like they’d been heavily edited by someone with a Sharpie and no knowledge of constitutional law. At the heart of the president’s defense is his insistence that he “did absolutely nothing wrong.” Which raises the obvious question: So why does he refuse to turn over any documents or allow top advisers to testify?The biggest joke in Washington is Trump’s defense that his refusal is based on his desire to protect the presidency for all those who will hold the office in the future. Bubbeh maiseh. Trump’s interest always has been and always will be Trump.Maybe it’s because he knows facts are irrelevant when he has 53 votes ready to dismiss the case without hearing any evidence, no matter what his crimes may be, and because he knows most senators are more frightened of his wrath than they are of their constituents.Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the faux moderate, is well aware that if she displeases Trump, he could retaliate by endorsing and funding a primary opponent in her race for a fifth term, and she won’t make it to November to face a Democratic challenger.Trump wasn’t in town for Monday’s opening of his impeachment trial. He flew off to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, where he boasted endlessly about his economic achievements, real and imagined.One place he should be going but won’t is Jerusalem for the gathering of world leaders to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Another reason to attend is this year’s theme is “Fighting Antisemitism” at a time when the United States is facing a surge in anti-Jewish violence – in no small measure the inevitable result of his legitimization of far-right, antisemitic and white supremacist extremists.VICE PRESIDENT Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be there representing the United States. They are first and second in line of succession if Trump is removed from office.Trump will return home to conduct a campaign to divert public attention from the impeachment with a series of rallies, tweets and appearances on state television (Fox). He named eight of his most strident congressional backers to be his outside defense team in the media.He added to his Senate legal team two lawyers who previous represented convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The pair, Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr, will argue before the Senate that Trump committed no impeachable offense by blocking witnesses and documents. That’s the exact opposite of what they argued in the Bill Clinton impeachment.Trump hasn’t always had such faith in Starr. He has called him “a lunatic,” “a disaster,” a “total wacko” and “totally off his rocker.” Starr apparently redeemed himself by saying nice things about Trump on Fox News.The president, of course, did commit a very serious crime. He extorted a foreign power by withholding security assistance in an effort to force it to help smear his political enemies. Then he lied about it (not under oath, he refused to do that) and blocked every effort by the House to call witnesses and see documents, which undercuts his defense.The loss of Sen. John McCain is painfully apparent in Washington these days. There is not a single Republican in the Senate with the stature or courage to stand up to McConnell or Trump at this historic moment; no one to speak up for a fair trial with witnesses and documents, not even Mitt Romney, the former presidential nominee and now junior senator from Utah. This is a time for moral leadership, not for hiding in the cloakroom gulping Kool-Aid.McCain would be appalled to know his former wingman, Lindsey Graham, has gone over to the dark side.Moscow Mitch’s ground rules for the impeachment have the earmarks of a Kremlin show trial, with no witnesses, no evidence, secret testimony (if any), and quickly moving to a predetermined outcome.McConnell may have the votes to keep Trump in office (although most Americans want to hear witnesses and 51% want to see him removed) for now, but voters may render a different verdict in November.Whatever the verdict, as Nancy Pelosi said, Trump will always be the impeached president, and that stigma will follow him into the history books, along with much more evidence of his corruption, which is certain to emerge after he leaves office.
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