1/ Catching up but: If McConnell made clear that he'd hold up Covid relief and nominations and all Senate business if Dems called witnesses—after he'd announced his and other votes to acquit were forgone conclusion—their decision not to is clear.
2/ The House managers have made a compelling case. Nobody is moving to acquit in good faith. The fact-patterns for Trump and his enablers will only get worse. And their cravenness will stand against that backdrop, as hearings and court cases proceed.
3/ McConnell, while Leader, had already maneuvered to delay the trial until after inauguration given the Republicans their fig leaf of an out—claiming (falsely) that the process couldn't proceed once Trump was out of office.
He'll stop at nothing. He's announced his vote.
4/ Both politically and morally, Covid relief is paramount. A process morass when the outcome was preordained would not accomplish much, legally or politically imho.
The legal fights will continue. In courts where the jury is not nullified.
5/ A lot of responses to this are presuming the Ds have tools that they do not. 67 votes in this case, for starters. The only slim chance at that would be if McConnell had whipped votes. He considered, or pretended to, but did not. The outcome was clear.
6/ The GOP is also on trial. Because is will acquit itself of its crimes does not diminish the damning case put forth. Indeed, like other miscarriages of justice, it only amplifies it.
The country is not fighting one snake, but a hydra, one born long before 2015.
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Watching “Ace in the Hole,” my rec for my movie club. Very cynical film about journalism, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Kirk Douglas, costume by Edith Head.
“You’ll be glad to know I’ve been fired by 11 papers with a total circulation of 7 million for reasons I won’t bore you.”
City/country joke about “belt *and* suspenders” pays off immediately
Nothing more cynical that Mitch McConnell speachifying about Trump's is "practically and morally" responsible for insurrection but saying it didn't meet a "criminal" standard.
This was not a criminal proceeding.
Mitch was happy to use Trump's lies and conspiracies when he thought it would secure him control of the Senate and was happy to provide himself and other Senators cover from base by voting to acquit. But just in case the weather starts changing, he wants this on the record...
Somewhere there is a portrait of Mitch McConnell looking very young and iron jawed.
Billy is right that if everyone did just a bit more, our streets, parks, beaches would be a whole lot cleaner.
Picked up two bags of trash today in honor of my friend Billy. Unlike him I did not need to cover 12 miles to do so. I did it in less than two blocks. SF has a huge trash problem. We have shitty and sparse public trash cans and and way too much littering/dumping.
It's a cottage industry on the left to single out @maggieNYT as being the source of all press failings. It's absurd.
Are all her tweets well considered? No. Whose are? Beat sweeteners? Yes, a few. But has brought more to light about Trump than maybe any other single reporter.
There are prominent male reporters, at NYT and of course Woodward, who *DID* hold back reporting for books. That deserves criticism. But what's even the logic in thinking she'd break story on Trump gravely ill/needing oxygen at time and hold back this until now....To what end?
.@StaceyPlaskett is really making a masterful argument about Trump's patterns and practices of violent incitement and while I'm not sure what to call that sleeve/cape/shrug thing, I'm here for it.
she's highlighting things that either have been forgotten or aren't well known even to folks like me. Quite impressive.