David Corn: With Trump's Impeachment Trial, Republicans Have Convicted Themselves

[babylonsister]

35 mins ago
With Trump’s Impeachment Trial, Republicans Have Convicted Themselves
The president’s defenders waged a war on reality.
David Corn


The impeachment trial of Donald Trump was always going to be a fight over reality—and whether reality matters.

There was no true doubt that Trump had committed the wrongdoing that led the House to impeach him. It was clear he had pressured the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky by withholding a much-coveted White House meeting and $391 million in vital military assistance to compel Zelensky to launch investigations aimed at digging up dirt on Joe Biden and yielding information to boost the nutty and unfounded conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had hacked the 2016 US election. There was compelling testimony from officials who were witnesses to this extortion scheme. There were documents, including the White House’s quasi-transcript that showed Trump pushing the Ukrainian leader for the “favor” of initiating these probes. And once the scandal broke, Trump even publicly exclaimed he wanted the Ukrainian government—and the Chinese government—to investigate Biden. His chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, declared at a press conference that Trump withheld the aid in part to push Ukraine to investigate the baseless Russia-Didn’t-Do-It theory.

Yet Trump and his defenders have denied there was any untoward scheme. They have denied facts. They have denied reality. During the impeachment hearings in the House, Republican legislators insisted that Trump blocked the aid because he was concerned about burden-sharing and about corruption in Ukraine. And they endeavored mightily to distract from Trump’s misconduct by shouting about the Steele dossier, the whistleblower who triggered the Ukraine scandal, Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian energy company, and the baseless notion that Kyiv intervened in the 2016 election. Anything but Trump’s attempt to cut a dirty deal with Ukraine. There was no evidence to support any of their alternative realties—no witnesses, no documents that showed Trump had leaned on the Ukrainians to deal with actual corruption within their ranks or that he had taken any steps to address the issue of burden-sharing.

It was all bunk. Even after Gordon Sondland—the hotelier who donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the European Union—testified that there had indeed been a “quid pro quo,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of Trump’s loudest and most reality-defying champions, shouted at a reporter (me): “No quid pro quo! No quid pro quo!” It was an unambiguous sign: Trumpers would never recognize any facts or evidence that showed Dear Leader had done anything wrong.

snip//

This has been disturbing and unsettling to witness. The founders placed impeachment in the Constitution because they feared that one day a corrupt scoundrel might reach the presidency. But they did not envision that an entire political party might be his accomplice and defender.

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/01/with-trumps-impeachment-trial-republicans-have-convicted-themselves/

[crickets]

1. Go MoJo - excellent and damning summation all down the line. K&R

[Pachamama]

2. The Impeachment Proceeding has been a window into showing the Coup and Corruption in our Senate

...House and the White House, Justice Department ....

OMFG

[aggiesal]

10. Can you explain the corruption in the House? n/t

[Pachamama]

11. How about we start with Devin Nunes?

And the list of GOP reps who were coordinating with the White House?

[aggiesal]

13. So you're referring to ...

the corrupt republicans, like Nuñez & Collins.
I intrepreted your statement as corrupt Dems.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. This will hang around the necks of each of these gop enablers, after this nightmare is over with,...

long afterwards. History will not be kind, and it shouldn't be.

Also, the louder they yell and scream (Pompeo, Jordon, etc.), the more guilty they are.

[Hortensis]

4. The senate committed a massive crime and indicted themselves for it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. they have and want no evidence, witnesses, documents; House wants all relevant ones

[spanone]

6. K&R...

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Yes, exactly, very astute David Corn as usual

Most outrageous too, that the Senate would tolerate listening to the bumbling, irrelevant defense. They never considered the facts. A judge would never tolerate this in a court of law at trial.

[DallasNE]

8. This Week Barr Named An Associate To Be The DA For DC

This opens up the door for this DA to empanel a Grand Jury to dig around the dirt Rudy & Co. think they have uncovered on the Biden's. Around August the Grand Jury will announce indictments against the Biden's.

The title is factual, the text is my speculation.

[Ohioboy]

9. Good article

[safeinOhio]

12. There is this....

&feature=emb_title&fbclid=IwAR3T3SHbRjKTbbXOFtWqA3GTztmnypkTvkDQE_e7dZ8GV-vRyvHnCOqILT8