The Senate Impeachment Vote Is "Truth Matters" Vs. "Nothing Matters"

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/the-senate-impeachment-vote-is-truth-matters-vs-nothing-matters/

The Senate Impeachment Vote Is “Truth Matters” Vs. “Nothing Matters”
Republicans prepare to vote for acquittal, and for nihilism.
Dan Friedman

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In his closing remarks Monday, Schiff took aim at that mentality. “America believes in a thing called truth,” he said. “She does not believe we are entitled to our own alternative facts. She recoils at those who spread pernicious falsehoods. To her, truth matters. There is nothing more corrosive to a democracy than the idea that here is no truth.”

This speech bears similarity to the arguments made by government prosecutors in the November trial of Trump associate Roger Stone. who was convicted of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks regarding Democratic emails hacked by Russia. In a closing argument to jurors then, Assistant US Attorney Michael Marando told jurors that “you can find any political view you want” and “your own truth” online, but “in our institutions of self governance, courts of law or committee hearings, where people have to testify under oath, truth still matters.”

Truth matters. Mardondo made it a refrain during the trial, and it was so effective that one juror used the phrase in a Washington Post op-ed to explain Stone’s conviction.

That Schiff made similar arguments Monday is not a coincidence. He led House Democrats’ investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, and he faulted Trump on Friday for encouraging and accepting Russian help in the 2016 election and then lying about it. Like federal prosecutors who investigated the Trump–Russia scandal and who indicted Stone and a handful of other former Trump aides for making false statements about their contacts with Russia, Schiff has been at pains to highlight the pernicious effect of the rampant dishonesty of Trump and his circle. Schiff on Monday implored GOP senators to assert values distinct from mere partisan loyalty to Trump.

“Truth matters little to him. What’s right matters even less, and decency matters not at all,” Schiff said. “I do not ask you to convict him because truth, right, and decency matters nothing to him, but because we have proven our case, and it matters to you. Truth matters to you. Right matters to you. You are decent. He is not who you are.”

Schiff’s argument is not going to convince 20 Republicans to vote to convict Trump. It may not convince any. But along with Cipollone’s closing, it will help define the votes that senators cast on Wednesday. Do Senate Republicans agree that Trump did nothing wrong? Is he who they are? Watch how they vote.