One incendiary thing Trump did that the House managers are leaving out.

[Bucky]

They talk about the lie of the stolen election during the storming of the Capitol.

But they are studiously avoiding mention of the months of lies building up and sustaining the spirit of lawlessness and insurrection, building up and sustaining the mass of deluded conspirators and calling them to come to Washington to "take back the country." Why?

Because over a third of the senators sitting as the jury supported and participated in that particular "peaceful" attack on our democracy and Constitution. It wasn't a late morning speech worth of lies that pushed the insurrection to attack Congress. It was three months of lies trumpted by almost the entire Republican leadership. They all participated in squaring up the mob to attack. It's just that McCarthy, McConnell, Christie, and just about everyone but Mitt Romney wanted the mob to be a hollow threat. They wanted to rattle the saber and were too self-blinded to think that Trump would unsheath it.

So they're not bringing up how two senators in particular led the calls for the same mob the president is accused of unleashing. They're not naming names of Republican members of Congress who helped the leaders of the invasion do reconnaissance on the Capitol the day before. They're leaving these facts unaddressed, because there are co-conspirators sitting in the jury.

[EarlG]

1. I think a pretty large portion of the afternoon was dedicated to that

I heard a lot of talk about the months leading up to and following the election...

Edited to add: they're not naming GOP Senators, but that's smart because it gives Republicans one less reason to kick up a stink.

[Wawannabe]

15. SAME!

The roadmap was all about that.

Idk what you (Bucky) watched?

[mahina]

2. Yet

[servermsh]

3. Because only Trump is being impeached.

They are focusing on Trump because he is the one being impeached. It is his state of mind and actions that are important.

The behavior of Congress members would be dealt with separately through censure or expulsion.

[Bucky]

5. Of course. But they're leaving out the 3 months of his building up the wall of denial around the mob

He didn't incite the riot overnight, and certainly not just in one morning. He's spent months building up this mob. If you ignore thsi, you ignore 50% of the context behind the mob.

They can't point that out because most of the Republican "jurors" actively participated in building up that mob with their lies about the election.

[servermsh]

8. Perhaps you didn't watch everything today? They did cover Trump's actions for months. n/t

[Bucky]

9. No, I was at work all day. I've been catching up all day and all I've heard is about January.

[sweetloukillbot]

11. One section of the testimony was devoted to pre-election rhetoric

They spent about an hour on it, then moved up to lies after the election.

[StarfishSaver]

13. Perhaps you should wait until you're caught up on the evidence before you critique it?

[True Dough]

4. The House managers have been doing a fantastic job

of showing how Trump is responsible for fomenting an insurrection and that includes the months leading up to the crime. Why bother to call out Senators who are co-conspirators at this particular time? It would just muddy the waters. Those Senators are not the ones facing an impeachment trial, Trump is. So keep the attention and the heat focused on Trump.

There may well be other occasions to make the complicit Senators and Representatives pay the piper.

[Bucky]

6. I'm not saying call them out -- at least not now

But I think it's worth noting that they were lockstep in guilt with Trump right up till 11:59am on the 6th. They legitimized his lies. That needs to be called out eventually.

But I do agree, given this constraint, they're doing a fabulous job.

[True Dough]

7. Every one of 'em should be drummed out, Bucky

I agree with that. But it's not going to be easy when so many are still drinking the Trump Kool-Aid and have no semblance of a conscience.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. Agree.. it's frustrating! Like who in the hell gave the tour

of the Capitol on Jan 5th?

How did Reps abet him, like you said. Will they ever be held accountable? Only, probably, if a savvy Dem runs against them?

He should have been impeached 4 times, once per year!!

[StarfishSaver]

12. They actually spent a lot of time today detailing the months of lies

They haven't left that out at all.

But the Republican senators culpability is irrelevant to the impeachment case against Trump. Bringing it in would be a distraction.

[cayugafalls]

14. I watched the whole thing and they spent a great deal of time on the months of buildup.

Just saying, they did a great job and covered what you seemed to have missed.

[pnwmom]

16. They covered it.

It’s convenient for defenders of former president Donald Trump to suggest that the impeachment trial underway in the Senate centers on the speech he gave on the morning of Jan. 6 before a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. By isolating that speech as the point of incitement alleged in the article of impeachment passed by the House, Trump’s defense can better argue that Trump’s verbiage was inconsequential to the violence that erupted.

The House impeachment managers arguing for Trump to be convicted by the Senate are instead framing that day as the culmination of months of incitement by the former president. Before the Nov. 3 election, Trump claimed that he could lose his reelection bid only if rampant fraud occurred; once he lost, that’s precisely what he alleged. Week after week, Trump elevated any random allegation of fraud in an effort to show that something suspect had occurred, to create a miasma of uncertainty aimed at rationalizing his effort to peel back Joe Biden’s win. It was successful: Most Republicans still falsely believe that the election was marred by fraud.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/10/nearly-half-republicans-who-will-judge-trump-bolstered-falsehood-that-drove-capitol-riot/