There's an easy way to understand any standoff involving McConnell: many of us work in fields where one's good name and reputation for integrity matters, and McConnell squandered his name and reputation—permanently—with his Garland stunt.
No one must—or *should*—trust him again.
No one must—or *should*—trust him again.
When you're dealing with someone who has permanently lost their good name and reputation, you *always* demand assurances up front because you *never* trust that person on faith. My view is that if you can't get assurances up front and have the option not to do business—you don't.
Pelosi correctly adjudges that McConnell—a man now permanently without honor—is lying about precedent and his values, intentions, opinions, actions and core principles. She correctly adjudges that a man without honor, like McConnell, will slither out of doing right at every turn.
The natural aversion one has to doing *any* business with a known, locked-in scoundrel is only augmented when that person goes on Fox News and says, in effect, "I am a scoundrel. You know I'm a scoundrel. I have been acting, and I will continue to act, as a scoundrel would act."
One of the only things McConnell *isn't* lying about is that this impeachment is extraordinary. It *is* extraordinary, though not—unsurprisingly, given that McConnell is a liar, scoundrel, and man who should never be trusted by anyone in his field again—in the way McConnell says.
This impeachment is extraordinary because it involves national security. And because it comes late in a first term, near an election. And because the president has illegally blocked all documents and witnesses in contravention of law—and clogged up the courts so cases can't move.
This impeachment is extraordinary because new inculpatory evidence emerges daily. And because it's not the fifth but roughly the fiftieth scandal of the most scandal-ridden presidency in U.S. history. And because the GOP carefully destroyed bipartisanship over the last 20+ years.
Democrats are therefore dealing with *extraordinary* circumstances and doing the best they can. And unfortunately they're stuck with—again—a negotiating partner who has, eyes wide open, permanently destroyed his good name and his reputation for integrity for a single SCOTUS pick.
My advice to House Democrats: think internally about what you need to do to uphold *your* principles. *Your* good name and reputation for integrity. Your reputation for thorough, thoughtful oversight. Do not worry about McConnell, or senators trying to set their travel schedules.
But also give some thought—just *some*—to how the man or woman down the street from where you live gets treated by our justice system, even if the analogy to an impeachment trial is imperfect. But *do* think about what equal justice under law could possibly mean today in America.
The president's behavior is the most dangerous behavior any president has engaged in, with respect to rule of law and our democracy. The Senate majority's behavior is the most dangerous behavior any Senate majority has engaged in, with respect to rule of law and our democracy.
The White House is hiding evidence. The White House is blocking evidence. Bolton has inculpatory national security-implicating information GOP senators are trying to block. And Pence has inculpatory national-security implicating information that Pence's office is trying to block.
What's the highest value? Truth. National security. Rule of law. Our democracy. Not TV, McConnell or senators' travel schedules. Think creatively. Depose Bolton. Depose Blair. Depose Mulvaney. Depose Duffey. Litigate everything. Keep the articles in safe hands as long as you can.
This is a national emergency. House Democrats know it. How one acts in a national emergency isn't necessarily how one acts when how things play on TV or in the Congressional cloakroom is the highest value. This is a unique time: a time of grave emergency and threat to our values.
No one in the Senate *actually* doubts Trump's guilt. The House is not negotiating with people acting in good faith, who intend to uphold their oaths to oversee the executive branch, defend the country, and adhere to rule of law. They've already proven it. Over and over and over.
Americans are powerless to get the truth to the world in time. Only the House can. The articles are fine where they are, and can be augmented with more evidence (and perhaps more articles) and sent later on to a Senate that has already said it will only review *House* evidence.
Hold the articles. Save the country.
