It was a foregone conclusion. President Trump would not be
found guilty and would not be removed from office. The Majority Leader of the
Senate announced the verdict before the trial began, and Senator McConnell has
complete control of his caucus. So why bother?
The House impeached the President along party lines. Then
the House Managers presented their case to the Senate which was sitting as
judge and jury. The President’s defense counsels presented their rebuttal with
equal vigor and legal tenacity. We saw some of the best trial lawyers in the
country joust with each other for the better part of a week, trying to convince
the senators to convict or not convict. In the end, Mitch McConnell prevailed;
the Senate did not find the President guilty nor oust him from office. The Republican
Senators would not remove the leader of their party, except for one braveheart,
no matter the facts of the case. The vote to acquit lasted 22 minutes. It was
anticlimactic. And, it matters!
Yes, it matters. If a president holds up crucial military
aid to an ally because of major policy differences, it is not an impeachable
offense. To do so for personal political gain, however, as President Trump did,
that is impeachable. In the end, many senators stated that the House Managers
proved their case; the President had done wrong, but they didn’t consider it
severe enough to remove him from office. The next time a police officer pulls
me over for doing 80 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, I am going to admit that
I did it, but argue that the crime doesn’t rise to the level of receiving a ticket
or going to court.
Each senator has a reason for his or her vote. Nearly half
are convinced that the whole effort on the part of the House Democrats was
because they disliked Trump, couldn’t overcome the reality of his election and
disagreed with his policies; they believe the animus went way back. Others are
scared to death that they will the primaried if they vote for removal from
office, and they want to keep their jobs. The President has stated that Senator
Romney, the lone Republican to vote guilty, should be removed from the
Republican Party. To be fair, some senators just hate Trump and others are blindly
loyal members of the Trump cult. Whatever the motives, the impeachment saga
illustrates how divided the country is. That really matters.
Our experiment with a democratic republic hinges on the
idea that we can all disagree on policies, but that we will reach compromise
positions in favor of a more perfect union, a better tomorrow for the next
generation, or something as simple as better infrastructure. Some claim that
what unites us is larger than what divides us. That may have been true a few
years ago, but I’m not sure it’s true today. We don’t have one or two things we
disagree about, as in the past, but we seem to have hundreds.
We saw the divide at the State of the Union address: the
President refusing to shake hands with the Speaker, her non-traditional
introduction of the President, then her tearing up of the speech at the end, and
Members walking out during the address. Those are neither normal protocol nor
good manners. We saw the divide when supporters cheered even when the President
lied about policies and his achievements. We saw the divide when detractors
didn’t cheer for the administration’s real accomplishments. The tension in the
great hall of the people was palpable. We may have been watching the apotheosis
Founder’s dream of a government of and for people who want to work together to
form a more perfect union achieved by devotion to the Constitution and the rule
of law, rather than rule by a person or party. I fear for our democracy, for
our culture, and for our future.
