The impeachment managers have sealed off Republicans' escape hatches

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
"Political forces hostile to democracy, freedom and equality thrive when key events of the past are mythologized, distorted or forgotten...This is why we will owe a debt to the House impeachment managers for many years to come."

Terrific @EJDionne column:

Opinion | The impeachment managers have sealed off Republicans’ escape hatches
Senate Republicans are left with no reason but cowardice to vote for acquittal.
washingtonpost.com

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-impeachment-managers-have-sealed-off-republicans-escape-hatches/2021/02/10/4a2ffa62-6be9-11eb-ba56-d7e2c8defa31_story.html


The House impeachment managers moved efficiently on Wednesday to close off the escape hatches and back doors for Senate Republicans. Quietly but passionately, they put the lie to the sham alibis that weak and cowardly members of the GOP are likely to invoke if they decide to do Donald Trump’s bidding one more time.

Those who vote to acquit the former president will now own it all: The incendiary speech that made the nation’s capital a killing ground but also the months of incitement and lying that built up to the violence.

They will own the threats against elected officials who refused to cheat on Trump’s behalf, the attacks on Black voters in big cities, and the savage mendacity of his all-caps tweets. Voting to acquit will mean joining in Trump’s rejection of the democratic obligation to accept the outcome of a free election and in his declarations even before the voting began that this was a “rigged” and “stolen” contest.

And it fell to Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) to make clear to Republican senators that if they vote with Trump, they will be endorsing a would-be tyrant who declared that a Republican elected official who refused to the “find” Trump votes that didn’t exist was “an enemy of the people.” The GOP’s loyal anti-communists might remember that this term — directed by Trump against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — was a favorite of Joseph Stalin’s.

*snip*

[Sneederbunk]

1. They need only one escape hatch. Corrupt members of the jury.

[still_one]

2. They don't care

[SharonClark]

3. "Escape route"?

They'll take the usual route - voting with trump and lying about the significance if what he did and their complicity.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

4. The impeachment managers are impressive to the max!

[NCjack]

20. The Justice Squad.

[TeamPooka]

5. Republicans will commit political suicide for Trump if required.

[dhill926]

14. Inshallah....

[DFW]

17. About a quarter of them would commit real suicide

That's what worries me.

[world wide wally]

6. I sure hope they nail Donnie The Weasel this time

or at least his ass kissers in the Senate

[lastlib]

15. Hey, that's insulting to the entire Mustelidae family!

weasels are noble beasts compared to that trainload of diarrheic whale-shit.

[world wide wally]

21. I stand corrected

Sorry, weasels.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Can they vote 'present'?

Can they vote 'present'?

[lastlib]

16. I don't think the rules permit it.

But if they did, I think it would be signing their political death warrant. My 2cts.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. It will be a PR game, played with lies and distortions, but Democrats set the gold standard here

against which all of them as well as their lies will be judged. I am feeling more optimistic about this as the week moves along. We all knew the televised evidence was there, but like the prosecutors many of them are, they provided the connections and causality with bulked up evidence and unassailable logic. This is the week American democracy was saved, but we still must win the war.

[yonder]

9. "Das Boot". Hopefully those trapped repub members

won't be surfacing soon while their leaky vessel takes on even more water.

[Silent3]

10. I'd love to think so, but...

...I have yet to find the bottom of how low elected Republicans will sink out of pure craven interest in maintaining power, and their unlimited capacity for hypocrisy and not giving a damn about anyone else or the future of the country.

Their escape hatch is "Who cares? Not me".

[yellowdogintexas]

13. It is a Bottomless Pit. There is no bottom; I have given up on trying to see it

The Marianas trench actually does have a bottom and these folks seem to be diving to find it.

[ancianita]

11. I deeply appreciate their effort. However, denial is always the escape hatch of scoundrels.

The 'not guilty' crowd are followers of their "I'm not responsible" leader. His fascist followers only care about "might makes right" and rising up again to prove they can beat all security forces.

The main thing is that the American people know the truth now, about Trump, his congressional cult and the nationwide followers who would burn it all down.

For the next twenty years we have to treat every single election as if it is 2020, or they will do just that.

[onetexan]

12. WOW! LOVE THAT PICTURE OF THE IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS!! Diverse, strong & smart as a whip, all of them

I had never heard of Delegate Stacey Pluckett till i saw footage of her arguments yesterday, and boy is she good!!

Here's the thing about the darn Repugs: they're damned if they do, & they're damned if they dont (vote to or against conviction).
So you'd think that would be enough incentive to be on the right side of history given either way you're screwed. It goes without saying they shouldn't even have to consider voting against conviction, but that's giving them too much credit. These suckers are too damn power hungry OR are afraid of a con man whose now out of office, and his ignorant minions. Having a moral spine is definitely not a requirement to be a GOP senator these days apparently.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

23. "damned if they do & they're damned if they don't"

How very true and spot-on.

And they have no one to blame but themselves. They painted themselves into this corner.

They had numerous opportunities to reject Trump from the time he came down the escalator but instead they chose to embrace him. Even though Trump disparaged Mexican citizens, a former POW and Senator, a disabled journalist, a Gold Star family, and women both individually and as a whole. And this is just a few examples of many during the run-up to the 2016 election.

All in the name of power and retaking the WH after 8 years of the Obama administration.

And then after Trump became president, they thought they could control him. Well, now we see who controls who. And even now when they could easily rid themselves of this menace to us all by doing the right thing and convict, they will cling to him and vote to acquit.

I also agree with your assessment of Delegate Pluckett- I sometimes forget the House has 6 non-voting members representing DC and the five US territories.

[Hamlette]

18. well worth the read, I love this part:

An essential requirement for political progress is an accurate understanding of what led a country to the state it’s in. Political forces hostile to democracy, freedom and equality thrive when key events of the past are mythologized, distorted or forgotten.

The “stab in the back” myth that falsely blamed the political left for Germany’s loss in World War I paved the way for Hitler. In our history, another outright lie — that the Civil War was about “states’ rights” and not slavery — strengthened the forces of white supremacy for generations.

[rickyhall]

19. Too bad we can't have a real jury, like, you know, in a real trial.

[NCjack]

22. Every DEM must never let all Senators who vote "Not QQuilty" evade

responsibly in all of their election campaigns.