Politics
McConnell Delays Trump’s Impeachment Trial
Delaying the trial gives the senate a better chance to convict Trump
It’s happened again. I am agreeing with Mitch McConnell. Twice in one week. That’s a little scary.
So it all started when the Democrats wanted to hold Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate the week after the inauguration. The trial was planned to be short, just a few days so that it wouldn’t interfere with getting Biden’s agenda off the ground.
Good ol’ Grim Reaper McConnell who has killed every bill that the Democrats have sent him for the past five years, put his foot down and said no. The trial couldn’t begin until the middle of February to give Trump’s legal team a chance to put together a defense.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
Trump is having difficulty putting together a legal team. The lawyers who represented him during his first impeachment are unwilling to represent him again. In fact, most law firms don’t want to represent him, mainly because it wouldn’t go over well with their clients.
Here’s why it makes sense to delay the trial. McConnell’s ultimate goal is to get rid of Trump, literally purge him from the Republican party. He wants to give Trump every courtesy, including time so that it doesn’t look like Trump is being railroaded. Delaying the trial prevents him from claiming his legal team had no time to prepare.
An unhappy Trump means unhappy Republican voters. McConnell is keeping his eyes on the prize: the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential race. He doesn’t want to do anything to alienate Republican voters.
The delay is also advantageous for the Democrats. It gives them time to approve Biden’s cabinet choices and get his corona virus relief package passed.
Win-win.
That’s the way the Senate is supposed to work. Both parties work together, do a little negotiating, a little horse trading so that in the end, everyone has most of what they want.
Impeachment and trial is an elaborately choreographed dance. The House passes the articles of impeachment and then literally walks them across the capitol building to the Senate side. The trial is supposed to start at 1 pm on the day that they are delivered to the Senate.
In this case, Speaker Pelosi will deliver the single article of impeachment to the Senate at 7 pm on Monday. The following day, senators will be sworn in as jurors and then there will be a halt in the proceedings until February 9.
Will Trump be convicted? I think that there is a good chance that he will be convicted. Convicted and then banned from running for office again.
Most senators take their cues from McConnell and McConnell has already said that he thinks that Trump committed impeachable offenses. He hasn’t come right out said he would vote to convict, but I’m sure that in private, he is urging Republican senators to convict Trump.
In addition, it is being reported that there is a memo circulating among Republicans outlining reasons why Trump should be convicted.
Trump needs to be convicted, not just because of the insurrection, but also to prevent him from running for office again. No matter what happens between now and 2024, he cannot be on the ballot. Period. Even as an independent or as a third party candidate. He would draw too many votes away from the Republican candidate in the election.
If the Republicans want to have a fighting chance in 2024, they must eliminate Trump from their party and the race.
