Let McConnell show the country what a hack he really is
by digby
Mitch McConnell has announced that if the House impeaches the president the Senate will "dispose of it quickly." This is mostly being seen as a terrible threat to Democrats who are afraid that Trump will seize upon it as a big victory and move on to bulldoze his way to a huge victory. Sigh.
I'm with Steve M at NMMNB on this one:
Many Democrats don't want to impeach because they believe, correctly, that they can't possibly get a conviction in the Senate. But they can highlight the heavy-handed behavior of Mitch McConnell and the rest of his crew of lackeys, among whom are potentially vulnerable incumbents who'll have to run in a presidential election year in which the majority of Americans won't want the incumbent Republican president reelected. So maybe it would be good for Democrats if the American public gets to watch McConnell & Co. run an outrageous kangaroo-court proceeding.
This assumes, of course, that Democrats can frame the issue correctly -- they have to make the case that the charges against Trump require serious consideration, and that a procedure that's a mockery of justice is an outrage. I'm not sure Democrats have the messaging skills to pull that off. But if they can do it -- if they can highlight McConnell's efforts to quash evidence and prevent witnesses from testifying, all while zipping through the process and, probably, conducting it in the middle of the night or over a holiday weekend -- then maybe they can run on that injustice as much as on Trump's unfitness for office in 2020.
If the Senate is going to act like Trump's indentured servants then let them show the whole country what they are. Let them take those votes and let them defend them on the campaign trail. Maybe they will win anyway but they should have to put their votes and their reputations on the line for Donald Trump, out in the open, for the whole world to see.
We know what he's done. Even aside from the Mueller Report, his dangerous behavior on the world stage, his obvious corruption, his chaotic management, all of it is impeachable and should be put on the table and those Republicans should be forced to defend it.
I wish I understood why the Democrats think it's so obvious that the best way to win is to act like Trump is not on the ballot, but he is. They have to run against him whether they like it or not. So they might as well try to take Mitch McConnell and his gang of sycophantic traitors down too.
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