Impeachment

Musing from the unpleasantness going on in the Senate last week.

I was almost right. Last week I predicted that the unpleasantness in Washington would be over before the paper came out. Although it won't officially end until Wednesday, the trial effectively ended on Friday. That was when the Senate voted against allowing any witnesses or new documents to be introduced.

There was a small glimmer of hope while Senator Lamar Alexander was still undecided. That's because of the way Alexander's political career began. He was elected Governor of Tennessee in the early 1970's. Between election day and January 1, a scandal involving his predecessor, Ray Blanton erupted. It became evident that Blanton had been “selling” pardons and paroles to the families of Tennessee inmates. The Democratic Legislature forced Blanton out of office, and installed Alexander early.

With that history, there was hope Alexander would be willing to follow that example when faced with another executive officer misusing his office. But nope, it didn't happen this time. This time Alexander decided that, even though the President withheld military assistance to an ally that was wrong, gosh golly, this time it didn't rise to removing him.

If you didn't get to watch Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz defend the President, you really missed a great show. It was a combination of a visit to Fantasyland and binge watching episodes of Fantasy Island.

Starr led off with a truly remarkable performance. With a straight face he chastised Democrats for making impeachment a common practice. He said that because of that, the next Democratic President was likely to be impeached.

Uh, Ken, you must have forgotten that the Clinton impeachment came just 24 years after Watergate, and was characterized by Republicans back then as revenge for Nixon. Or maybe you forgot that after Republicans regained control of the House in 1995, nearly after 40 years, they immediately began investigating both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Or maybe you forgot that when you find no more crime in Whitewater, you tried to resign to become Dane of the Pepperdine Law School, but was pressured to keep looking for something. Or maybe you forgot that it was only because Linda Tripp began tapping her conversations with Monica, you finally had a way to trap Clinton by asking about his sex life. Or maybe you forgot about all those press conferences you held in your driveway each morning on your way to work. Then again, maybe you have haven't forgotten. Maybe you really are the hypocrite you always seemed to be.

Dershowitz not only made the craziest argument in defense of the President, he also provided a great public service. For years we have been led to believe that a law degree from Harvard was the best in the world. After hearing Dershowitz defend the President, the former law professor from Harvard showed us that a degree from that law school is no better than one from Trump University.

Dershowitz actually stood in the Senate and told us that, the President's job was to act in the national interest, and, if he believed that is re-election was in the national interest, anything that he did to insure it was okay. Proving that he was truly a Trump attorney, after his argument was ridiculed, he sent out a tweet the next day, saying he didn't say what we all heard him say. Later that day he slapped Mike Pomeo on the back when the President congratulated him for cussing out a reporter for NPR.

Anyway, by this time next week Trump will still be President, and newly emboldened. He will new feel free to gut the EPA, cut sweetheart deals for friends and family and tell us what he really thinks of Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. Wait a minute, he's already doing that.