Thread by @RonColeman

Every member of the Senate must realize that the vote he or she casts on "impeachment" is going to be the fulcrum of his or her next reelection campaign. >

That means making a serious assessment of what the pundits are saying about what your constituency thinks not only about Donald Trump but what is going on in Congress now, the integrity of that deeply damaged institution and what government's priorities should be. >

In order to do that, members of the Senate need to listen, not merely to their staffs and their usual DC-based sources of Conventional Wisdom, but to real people in the real world - and that includes the world outside the United States. >

Based on recent history, it seems unlikely that many members of the Senate have the foggiest idea where to find this world. This is true of both Democrats and Republicans, though @RandPaul would probably be a good member of the club to ask, as would @tedcruz. >

It is hard to be optimistic that this will happen, however.

It is the Republican Senators who are more blameworthy in this regard, because they are almost all smarter, younger and more principled than the Democrats in the upper house. There are obvious exceptions. >

But this state of affairs is, it appears, the democracy we deserve - if not in some practical way, in a cosmic one.

There is a short-term possibility, however, of waking some of them up and getting them to tune it to what real people think about this "trial". >

Which is this:

Notwithstanding my use of scare quotes around "trial" to refer to the phony impeachment, a very real trial is taking place.

It is not Donald Trump whose fate is being decided, however. Nor the mere identity of the members of the Senate in the years to come. >

The American republic is literally (yes) on trial in the Senate right now. And no supermajority is required to condemn the accused. <>