A Vote to Acquit Trump Is a Vote for a Lie

[DonViejo]

February 12, 2021 at 8:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Peggy Noonan: “The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump has been a rout for the pro-impeachment side. They made the case through time-stamped videos and close argumentation, and their timeline linked in an undeniable way the statements of the president on 1/6 and the actions of the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Democratic floor managers were at their best when they were direct, unadorned, and dealt crisply with information and data, as they did most of the time. They were less effective when they employed emotional tones to move the audience. Here is a truth: Facts make people feel. People are so unused to being given them. They’re grateful for the respect shown in an invitation to think.”

“Congress was riveted; journalists were riveted. Was America? Did it watch? We’ll find out the ratings and in time get a sense of what people felt was worth absorbing. Did the proceedings have the power to break through as anything other than a partisan effort? I don’t know, but I suspect so. In the pandemic people are glued to their screens. Nothing they saw—nothing—would make them admire Mr. Trump more.”

###

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/12/a-vote-to-acquit-trump-is-a-vote-for-a-lie/

[Cirque du So-What]

1. 'Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies...'

I have no illusions of repuQ Senators suddenly seeing the light and doing the right thing at the end of this impeachment trial. We need to never give up reminding everyone of The Big Lie, however, and the evil that came as a result of it.

[MineralMan]

2. Republican Senators Are Doing Their Math.

Most don't really care about the trial. They are only concerned how their vote will affect their chances to hang onto their seats. I think most of them still believe that Trump's base is what they need to do that. They are wrong about that, but that's what they seem to think.

Each and every one of them is receiving messages from the far right, threatening them if they vote to convict. Some of those threats are about their next election. Others of those threats are threats on their lives, no doubt.

Will 17 of them work up the courage to vote to convict? I don't know. Given their sorry performance for the past four years, I doubt it.