It was always said to be an experiment. Always in practice, in theory, a prototype. Oh, I suppose some surefooted, self-righteous upper echelons eventually claimed America was done, off the grill, not open for debate, airing of grievances, or even hearing testimony of witnesses to crimes against the document as a whole. A fair stab, a hit or miss, one step forward/ two back, theory of self-governance endured, scrapped it out in courts and on the streets, on the seas and battlefields, for 231 years. What transpired at the impeachment trial of the 45th president signaled an end of any sense of civility, of the rule of law in America.
On Friday, January 31, the senate voted 51-49, rejecting the idea of having witnesses testify in the trial of Donald J Trump. The only other impeachment trials of presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999, were inclusive of witnesses. Last week America was witness to a drive-by, an assasination of an institution, the unmitigated and irevicable staining of our constitution. Two senators, Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) were wiling to vote to hear witnesses, to put the value of a fair trial above their own allegience to a party that may well implode anyway.
Nixon resigned “for the good of the nation” in August, 1974, before the senate could try him and most likely convict him. Trump has never done anything in the best interest of the nation (as a whole), why would he start now. The closet we came to a John Dean moment, a clear reading of events incriminating the president, came with Gordon Sondland's joyful recantation of Ukraine phone calls in his testimony at the hearings before the House of Representatives. Or there was Lev Parnas, the indicted Giuliani flunky who appeared to have an incongruous streak of ethics and a need to clear his name. Rudy was once descibed by a Trumpeter as the “shiny object” designed to distract. Indeed, the crop of nefarious garden gnomes of the eastern Europe variety was brash, overt, wearing their criminality on their billowy sleeves. Just look at the video picture of Rudy, Lev, and Egor giving the thumbs up, waving, lounging with ties undone after doing their bosses' dirty work. Still, unlike Watergate, there were no Larry Hogan Sr.s. That sense of morality, that something is bigger than a political career, was lost in the years between Watergate and Ukraine-gate, loosened adequately by Iran-contra and Bush and Chaney's profiting off a felonious war. After Watergate the truth came out about the plumbers. Republicans ultimately chose to preserve a democracy, not a corrupt president whoose acts of obstruction and abuse of power were comparitvely less than Trump's. In Clinton's senate trial that took place in February 1999, videotaped depositons rather than live witnesses were aired. Testimony from Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordon, and White House aide Sydney Blumenthal was heard. Clinton was aquitted in a bi-partisan vote, found not guilty of the two Articles; obstruction of justice and grand jury perjury.
It is all for Mitch McConnell, just the way he wanted it, giving Democrats a little breathing room, an unrequited sense for optimism that maybe on witness (ie. Bolton) would open a Pandora's box and void the Majority leader of his control over the proceedings. It did not happen, altough Friday's vote was not the technical end. Closing arguments by House managers will be heard, the Trump legal team carrying its guilt as pedestrian and nonchalantly as an over-flowing briefcase, Alan Dershowitz selling his name and soul for bits of devilment. The final vote, after the 2/4 State of the Union, following the Iowa caucuses, will no dout aquit Trump who will hail it as a (has this movie played before) total exoneration. A bad taste will remain in the mouths of many Americans, all but those whose taste buds are over-powered with that of kool-aide, the red meat parasitite who chant in unison any phrase Trump utters.
Democracy died last week. At least the part of America I so admired did, the part that kept the experiment alive, the part that allowed it to continue its practice, to succeed and fail, try and miss, advance and retreat. If a future administration ever finds the framings of 231 years past, there will now remain a trap door, an easily corruptible option for a president, regardless of the best initial ethical intentions and adherence to congressional oversight, that emptys into a rabbit hole of ill repute, of obstucted subpoenas, hedge funds, and beckoning quid pro quos. Rest in peace.