IMPEACHMENT STRATEGY FOR HOUSE MANAGERS 101

 

Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, one of the impeachment managers. One can only hope that he takes advantage of the opportunity to do the nation a service. However, in all likelihood, Democrats will Democrat and manage to once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, even as Donald T***p fires his lawyers and says he wants to make his "defense" to the charge of inciting a deadly riot to destroy democracy that the election was "stolen" from him. Which, if the impeachment managers have any sense, they can liken to the guy being denied a mortgage who robs a bank at gunpoint and kills the security guard.

There is no doubt in my mind that the impeachment managers from the House will never hear my proposal that they do the nation a service. On January 25, 2021, the Senate held a vote on Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's motion to dismiss the entire impeachment charge- and 45 Republicans voted to dismiss the entire case. Even Senate Minority Leader (and that is sweet just to type that) Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted for that mere days after he gave the one honest speech of his life in which he blamed Donald T***p for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol and drove 535 Congressmen and Senators and one Vice President to safe rooms. That means only 5 even want to have a trial.

Since there is no reasonable hope of gettng 17 Republican votes for conviction (assuming we get all 50 Democrats), then House impeachment managers should turn this moment into the opportunity to render a true public service to the nation.

Tell T***p and his team iof lawyers n advance (and as of this writing, all of them have quit and he's down to 0) that he will be the first witness they call. That they will give him every opportunity to bring with him the evidence that he won in a landslide in the 2020 presidential election but that Democrats engaged in massive, nationwide voter fraud (in four states at least) and "stole" the election from him.

Get this message out on every network. Show up on Fox. Every day, tell the nation that T***p will get his day in the court of the United States Senate- under oath- to prove that his lies are in fact true. And challenge him: call him a liar. A con man. Who has no evidence whatsoever- nothing that was ever admitted in any courtroom out of all of the lawsuits his campaign filed. None he can bring to the Senate. Tell him he's a bully. A coward. Too craven to even testify because he knows that once he takes an oath and swears to tell the truth. when he lies he can be tried for perjury. Tell him he's a fat bucket of turds and worthless. Whatever it takes.

Now only two things are likely to happen. And either is good for this republic:

(1) Trump takes the Fifth Amendment, which is widely perceived as an admission of criminal guilt, and also shows that he is a cowardly weasel who refuses to take the one opportunity to publicly bring forward his "evidence" that the election was stolen. Not innuendo. Not rumor. No hearsay. Not wild conspiracy theories. Actual evidence that is admissible in a court of law.

(2) Trump testifies. And if he does, get out the popcorn. Because he will be subject to a piercing cross examination. (My post two below this one has the cross, in full.) He will trip up. He will contradict himself. He will contradict other witnesses (like Mark Meadows, his chief of staff who was in the room with him) who will also be testifying under oath. He will be unable to produce one piece of evidence of actual fraud. (By the way- Rand Paul doesn't even know what that word means, as he angrily told George Stephanopolous that county or state registrars who allowed votes to be counted that didn't include all of the information allegedly required on an absentee ballot was the same as "fraud." It has nothing to do with fraud.) T***p will absolutely fall into what his own lawyers said during the Mueller investigation is a "perjury trap."

And Trump should be mercilessly grilled about his spending hours watching on tv as his mob, the terrorists he incited, stormed the Capitol, driving his Vice President and members of Congress, including his own party, including his own enablers willing to overthrow democracy and install him as king, into hiding, fearing for their safety and their lives. And they called him for help. And he did nothing.

A good trial lawyer would win a conviction in the Senate and in the court of public opinion- the only one that counts at the moment- by roasting him over the coals for his complete indifference to the fate of Congress. As long as the vote counting had stopped, he was happy. And he sent no troops. He didn't so much as put out a Tweet asking his supporters to peacefully walk out.

That's a picture that should be painted not just with T***p, but with other witnesses. Mark Meadows. Every other person in the room with T***p. The members of the House who called the White House and got no help. Especially the Republicans who were his most vocal supporters.

The cross I crafted ends with the question, after posing the fact of the Capitol police being overrun, T***p watching it on tv, the rioters- wearing his hat, carrying banners with his name- killing a policeman, getting one of their own fatally shot trying to beat down the doors to the House chamber- after every question " And you did nothing."

By the end of that trial, the public will revile him. As much or more for sitting there happily watching the mob take the Capitol- the mob he had promised to walk down to the Capitol alongside- and he absolutely should be grilled about that lie, because it will reveal to his MAGA people what a true cowardly weasel the rest of us have always known he was.

*****

If only..... (writes the frustrated trial lawyer).

*****

15 Republicans who aren't complete spineless crapweasels:

Just as Liz Cheney- deplorable during her entire career until the moment arrived when she actually showed courage- enough to cost her her seat in Congress representing Wyoming- and 9 other Republican Congressmen showed courage by voting for the article of impeachment- something no one did a year ago, there were five Republican senators who voted to hold a trial. And who presumably will be fair, and may actually vote to convict: The five brave ones: Mitt Romney (naturally), Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins (apparently being in the northernmost state on the east coast and likewise on the west provide some insularity from Republican T***p lovers' backlash.) Ben Sasse of Nebraska- who should leave the party, become an independent, and caucus with the Democrats like Angus King of Maine did. And Pat Toomey of my home state, Pennsylvania, who is not running for re-election next year. Even Rob Portman of Ohio, who is also retiring next year and doesn't have to fear a primary challenge, voted to dismiss the whole thing. Fuck 'im if he can't take joke.