The attorneys representing Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, have received a lot of criticism concerning their presentation to the Senate. Indeed, some of it has come from their client. Yet, in some ways, the time constraints that contributed to their apparent lack of polish worked in their favor. They couldn’t call in professional filmmakers to produce a slick and deceptive video montage. They had no time to throw together an 80-page word salad in lieu of legitimate legal arguments. But they did have the facts, the Constitution, and one crucial question they wanted to ask the Democrats.
Attorney Castor posed that question 40 minutes into his opening remarks on Tuesday: “Why is the majority of the House of Representatives afraid of the American people?” Castor went on to explain why that question had to be asked and how the answer lays bare the cynical motivation behind the precipitous House impeachment: “Let’s understand why we are really here. We are really here because the majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future.” He’s right, of course. Democratic fear of a Trump reelection has provided the primary impetus for both impeachments, as Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) made obvious as early as May 2019:
I’m concerned if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected. If we don’t impeach him, he will say he’s been vindicated. He will say the Democrats had an overwhelming majority in the House and they didn’t take up impeachment. He will say that we had a constitutional duty to do it if it was there, and we didn’t. He will say he’s been vindicated … Here’s what I say, we’re confronting a constitutional crisis as I speak to you…. We must impeach him.
The Democrats simply don’t trust the electorate to make the “right choice” if Trump is on the ballot. The first impeachment was meant to detach him from his supporters, but it produced the opposite result. Despite that farce, he received 10 million more votes in 2020 than he won in 2016. Having nonetheless lost the election pursuant to the efforts of what TIME magazine’s Molly Ball gleefully describes as “a well-funded cabal of powerful people,” Trump unnerved the Democrats by hinting that he might run again in 2024. Consequently, they used the January 6 “insurrection” as a pretext for another impeachment whose express purpose is to deny the electorate the opportunity to vote for Trump again.
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(1) Crony Socialism’s Death Throes
(3) Trump ‘Plans to Stay in the Arena,’ Says Former White House Chief of Staff
(4) Dems’ Next Plot Against Trump
Watch:
The media (including our own CBC/CTV) chose to use “dodged the bullet” which translates in most people’s minds to guilty as charged and lucky to have gotten away with it.