Contagion
by Tom Sullivan
The vote itself was anticlimactic. After a full day of House speeches Wednesday for and against the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, even a few Democrats were shouting theirs. In the end, both sides were dug in. "Almost entirely along party lines," the House of Representatives' Democratic majority voted to impeach Trump for abuse of his office and obstruction of Congress. The only real surprise was Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) showing off her presidential mettle by voting "Present" on each article.
What happens next with those articles of impeachment immediately became the subject of reporters' questions to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. When will she transmit them to the Senate? Rumors had flown that Pelosi might bide her time, let Trump stew, and apply pressure to Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to hold more than a sham Senate trial:
“We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side,” she said, referring to the House “managers” who present the case for removal to the Senate. “So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us. So hopefully it will be fair. And when we see what that is, we’ll send our managers.”That's winning negotiating tactic No. 5 from Trump's "The Art of the Deal": Use your leverage.
And that pause leaves us time to process what America just witnessed.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews observed after the vote that not one Republican defended Trump's character. None said Trump is not the kind of person to violate his oath of office. None argued Trump is a good person. It was damning by omission.
The New Yorker's Jelani Cobb tweeted, "Of all my naive presumptions that have been shot down in the past few years the idea that conservatives really believe in American sovereignty remains the most surprising. Among other things yesterday’s vote shows how ok they are with foreign powers subverting American autonomy."
Their professions of American faith are as authentic as a TV preacher's tears. Not for all, but for many.
Several patterns manifest themselves in the course of the House hearings and in Wednesday's floor debate.
In their non-defense of Trump, Republicans repeatedly cited as exculpatory statements by Ukrainian officials. Ukrainians felt no pressure to investigate Trump's domestic political rivals and a Russian-born conspiracy theory about 2016 election interference, they argued. Republicans accepted press comments from officials from "the third most corrupt nation on earth" (Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky) over the sworn testimony before Congress of dedicated, career U.S. public servants.
Recall how in Helsinki Trump sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the collective assessment of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) argued against impeachment, saying, "No president in history has ever been impeached 10 months before an election."
McConnell made the same argument for refusing confirmation hearings for President Obama's last nominee to the Supreme Court. Is this now a deeply held conservative principle like originalism? In what section of the Constitution do they find it? Or is it simply what it looks like?
Hannity: "I was shocked that former President Obama left so many [judicial] vacancies and didn't try to fill those positions."
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) December 13, 2019
Mitch McConnell: "I'll tell you why. I was in charge of what we did the last two years of the Obama administration. [Creepy evil laugh]" pic.twitter.com/revbToN8aZ
For many Chinese elites (even advocates of “reform & opening up”) the central lesson of the 😡 regime is that the PRC must lessen its dependence on an erratic United States. Nothing future US policymakers do will make the Chinese “unsee” that lesson. https://t.co/W22hXnH0O1
— Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) December 19, 2019