"The first: How in God’s name — and it was in God’s name — can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”?"
I'm here to assist.
Many Republican senators already decided to vote to acquit...
In the same spirit as Democratic senators, some of whom are actively campaigning and spending millions of donor dollars to replace Trump next November, have no conscience or reluctance to acknowledge their predetermined decision to vote for impeachment, but also "took the solemn oath" to be impartial jurors.
Further, the Republican senators were placed in this position by Democratic House representatives who had decided to impeach Trump from the moment he took office. The only quandary for Nancy Pelosi was timing, not intent.
Finally, the House admittedly rushed its investigation due to "Trump being a national security risk," and rather than test Trump's claims of executive privilege as to witnesses and documents in the the third branch of government, the US Supreme Court, Pelosi decided that the political risk to moderate Dem House members was too great and she needed to wrap this up quickly;
Then delaying the transmittal of the impeachment articles to push for the Senate to bring in witnesses the House refused to pursue in the Supreme Court.
I hope the above helps.
1
I’m shocked that Congress so willingly cedes power to the Executive. Can you imagine accepting a co-equal position of power in a corporation and not asserting it? That is a prescription for personal and institutional failure.
2
The really astounding thing about all of this is that a lot of people are all right with Trump’s distorted view of being a human being . In fact many cheer him on , seemingly , encouraging the debauchery , ignorance and vileness . They are the real frightening aspect to the entire horror story . Knowing they were always here , he just unleashed them , is bone chilling .
3
"They’re partial to the core, unabashedly so, as their united march toward a foregone conclusion shows. A mind-meld this ironclad isn’t a reflection of facts. It’s a triumph of factionalism."
Frank Bruni thinks this a fair description of Republican Senators. But it is a much fairer description of House Democrats.
From the beginning an impeachment effort begun by partisans was not only an offense against the Constitution, it was an assurance that partisanship would beget partisanship. And so it has.
And that is a very good thing in the circumstances. The one most honest action Senate Republicans could possibly take now is to reject all appearances of legitimacy in this impeachment farce.
The Framers would be pleased if the Senate dismissed the charges altogether for the nullity in law they are.
24
So abuse of power and the actual commission of a crime — withholding funds appropriated by Congress to an ally for personal benefit — not to mention obstruction of congress, are NOT impeachable offenses? Good to know.
330
Democrat pursuit of impeachment never had anything to do with justice.
You don't kick a player out of the game for pass interference (a highly subjective call in football).
Democrats have had only one goal, from the beginning, to disrupt a Presidency.
Let's be honest, liberals are still angry that Hillary lost...STILL throwing a tantrum. Grow up.
30
@ Raz: I appreciate your comments, and the fact that you have the integrity to not defend Trumps criminal activity
97
@Raz: Trump ran on the promise of disruption to appeal to bitter nihilistic voters. These are the folks who ask the genie to burn down their neighbor's house for their one wish after rubbing Aladdin's lamp.
95
Democrats-and I am one-don’t like the President or his policies. But no Democrat I know-or whose work I read-believes in ending an administration just because you don’t agree. No, Democrats wanted to win the next election. But Trump’s flagrant illegality has left Democrats with no choice but to try and remove him. By the way, we still have his administration in place even if he is removed. So...why go to all this trouble? Not because D’s resent Trump: it’s because he breaks the law-all the time. A President who thinks the law doesn’t apply to him threatens American democracy at its core
319
"How in God’s name — and it was in God’s name — can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”? "
Well, that's easy to answer. The complaints described in the articles of impeachment do not rise to the standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.
They are political in nature, subjective, and do not describe actual crimes.
They are nothing more than a continuation of the subversion of the presidency carried out by progressive leftists whose banner reads: "Hillary Clinton lost and I am still angry about it. p.s. I also don't like federalism or the Constitution as it is today".
Any Senator who gives these articles anything more than a passing glance before voting to acquit is doing so for publicity purposes.
Durham will identify the actual criminals, and there will be more than a few job openings coming up as a result.
12
Without worry or apology, President Donald Trump stands before Establishment Liberals and RINO’s - and American Socialists - with a giant mirror and they do not like what they see.
12
Bullies always blame their victims. Criminals always blame their victims. Trump always blames his victims. The difference is that Trump's victims ae the US COnstitution and the people of the United States. But that's OK with you because you also hate anyone and anything that you do not agree with.
176
What on earth dies that mean?
44
@David Mangefrida
It's the kind of statement that makes perfect sense to someone who marched in Charlottesville brandishing a tiki-torch and a swastika flag.
135
Impeachment proceedings against US Presidents are a phenomenon of the 20th century, except for Andrew Johnson in the 19th. The impeachment attempt of Trump, to be wholly supported by all citizens of good will and love of liberty, may be followed by a reign of a Democratic Islamo-socialist President, hatched from an egg lain by Clinto-Obama-Sandersites. I dread to think of the political polarization that would in such a case lead to continuous squabbles in Congress.
8
Enough is ENOUGH ! ! !
The democrat house has already had its "trial."
Sherman and Green filed the first article of impeachment in July 2017, after Trump fired Comey.
Over 130 democrat congressmen called for special investigation, and The Mueller Saga was born; it dragged on from May 2017 to March 2019.
The so-called "impeachment inquiry" began in September 2019, after the so-called "Whistleblower" met with Adam Schiff and then wrote an "anonymous" letter. No less than SIX congressional committees held hearings: Financial Services, Judiciary, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means. ELEVEN witnesses, THREE legal experts and a host of other characters testified publicly against Trump.
After TWO SOLID YEARS of nonstop congressional investigation and nonstop media commentary, the democrats have proven....
NOTHING!
Democrats are trying to spin their interpretation of a single phone call into impeachment. Democrats continue to dig and try to spin whatever morsels of information they can find into "Breaking News" - the latest being Rachel Maddow's interview with Lev Parnas, who is pulling a Michael Cohen to save his own skin from prison.
Enough is ENOUGH! Get this senate trial over with so the president, congress and the senate itself can get back to doing what they were elected to do.
158
@99percent I agree enough IS enough. There is an easy way to put this to rest. Let there be witnesses and documentation for this trial. That’s what we expect of any trial. Let them swear their oaths. That would be the end of all of this.
1012
@99percent --You are right. It has required 3 painstaking, painful years to assemble the evidence in the face of massive obstruction, but now it is time to move forward with the actual trial.
I have seen many legal cases concerning matters far less grave than this impeachment drag on in the pretrial phase for more than three years -- what should be so surprising about that??
695
@99percent
Please remember that the Steele Dossier was first produced at the request of Republicans in opposition to Trump during the Republican primaries. When it was apparent that Trump would win the primary, Ted Cruz requested that oppositional research into Trump be halted, via the Washington Beacon, which was the original commissioner of the document, apparently at Cruz’s instigation. The document, now orphaned, then found it’s way into the hands of the Clinton campaign, but it didn’t originate there.
648
OK. Now, what do you call the Democrats hit jobs on Trump before, during and after his election. If I were Trump, I would be investigating every Democrat operative and politician, including those in the Obama administration who were any way involved in the ordering, payment and dissemination of the Steele dossier. Here was a clear example of US citizens who paid foreign agent (Steele) to get dirt on a political opponent from other foreign nationals (Russians). This involved hundreds of thousands of dollars over months in violation of US election law. Many Democrats and the left press called for Trump impeachment based on violation of the same election law for the hour meeting with the Russian lawyer which resulted in nothing and no money changed hands. Democrat operatives were in working in Ukraine to discover or manufacture dirt on Trump.
Trump had every right to investigate Biden and his idiot/drug addict son's important work in Ukraine and China shortly after Papa Biden was named Obama's lead in those countries. He can use his resources, govt resources and volunteer efforts. And that is why he will be acquitted, despite the extreme Democrat partisanship supporting impeachment in search of an impeachable offense.
118
@edward smith
LOL - It wouldn't be illegal for trump to have the US intelligence investigate the Bidens. It is illegal to withhold congressionally allocated tax payer dollars from a vulnerable country to get their government to investigate a top political rival just before an election. And the Steele dossier wasn't tax payer funded. If you're actually interested in the legal perspective on the trump administration withholding aid to Ukraine you should read through the Government Accountability Organization's report on the matter.
1044
@edward smith If trump is innocent of the charges, then he should encourage all requested to testify openly to clear his name. To date I have seen no exculpatory evidence to suggest such. Trump himself should testify. That’s how one clears their name. His actions and words bespeak guilt. What’s he hiding and so afraid of? The truth coming out?
958
@edward smith The Steele Dossier was put together at the order of REPUBLICAN Operatives Against Trump. The Company that did the investigations then RE-SOLD that package to the Democratic Party, making Double Profit.
But do not make the mistake of thinking it was the Dems that ordered it done, it was the Repubs Rubio and Cruz who had the research done.
Blame them for all of this.
906
Obama refused to provide military aid to Ukraine while Russians were killing Ukrainians by the thousands. He did not want to upset Putin and the Russians.
Trump delivered hundreds of millions of aid ahead of the Congressionally required schedule.
16
Sort answer to the last question: No, it doesn't nag at them at all. It's really as simple as that. They are completely unscrupulous and probably always were. For some Republicans, , this is one of time their principles have been at stake. They've shown their true colors.
35
It is quite obvious that the articles of impeachment do not allege facts (or opinions) sufficient to remove the President from office. If this was a court trial, as soon as the articles were filed the President's lawyers would have filed what is called a demurrer. A demurrer says that there is no need to have a trial because even if true, and the allegations will be deemed to be true for the purpose of ruling on the demurrer, what is alleged will not support the relief that is being sought. In this case, you can't remove a president on the basis of what the articles allege. If the Senate voted to remove the President (which most everyone knows won't happen) the Supreme Court would overturn the order to remove the President. Most likely the lower courts would have done the same, and only if the Dems appealed, would the matter even make it to the Supreme Court. The people who are faulting the Senate for speaking out against the articles don't have an understanding of how our laws work.
11
And the Senate Democrats along with some Republican colleagues are "bathed in shame" for voting to acquit President Clinton in 1999? Of course Clinton's felonies didn't rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.
13
This puzzles me Frank, and perhaps you have an answer. And it's a bit off point, since your article focuses on Republican Senators who are bathed in shame. But I have to wonder, too, about Attorney General, William Barr.
We all know that the CIA, FBI and NSA can access every email, text message and phone call made by anyone in the US, and probably overseas as well. Everything. How is it posssible that they did not intercept, catalog and store the email, text message and phone calls of Lev Parnas, and everyone he contacted, including Rudolph William Louis Giuliani?
Why didn't the CIA, FBI and NSA have copies of the messages and calls? How could William Barr not have them? Does he have them now, but is withholding them? Or does he glory in his own shame and allegiance to Donald "John" Trump?
32
Our democracy lays wounded on the ground and the Republicans in the Senate can either heal her or put the knife in. Sadly, my money is on attending the funeral next week.
41
These Republican senators have lost whatever moral fiber they once possessed. They have chosen to own Trump’s lies and compromised their integrity in the balance. They deserve to be voted out.
61
This is silly.
The Republicans clawed their way to power by attacking any suggestion that they ought to be ashamed of anything. Blatant, nasty shamelessness is their cause, not their liability. Accusing them of impropriety validates their impropriety. It means you're "triggered", that you value decency while they trample it, that you value intellectual consistency while they flout it. They love reactions like this.
They're at war with America in its 2020 diversity, openness, and compassion. They celebrate the anguish and contempt of their enemies. It takes just one Trump Rally to see who they are: terrified, belligerent nihilists; what they want: wreckage and ruin; and the future they demand: none for them and none for you.
The Times can't adopt this pose any longer. After Trump won their nomination there hasn't been any point in pointing out their hypocrisy or inconsistency. Stacking up the evidence against them likewise will never work.
They kick you in the face and enjoy it when you point out to them that they're kicking you in the face. This armchair cataloguing of the obvious is shallow, lazy and easy. Instead of this pointless surveillance of the obvious The Times ought to be focused where the damage is yet to be done. They are going to try to steal this election. They have to. If they succeed then the present and the future of representative democracy is compromised at the foundation.
Please. Do your job.
56
I wonder how Lindsey Graham would have fared in a debate with James Madison about our Constituion.
(To those who detest rhetorical questions, I apologize.)
21
This (white) evangelical pastor would remind all U.S. Senators that God doesn't take lightly breaking oaths invoking His help.
42
This impeachment will fail; Trump will not be removed.
If the House remains under Democratic control after the 2020 election, they will immediately conduct another impeachment to influence the 2022 midterms.
This circus ends only by Republicans controlling both the House and Senate.
The Democrats have nefariously attempted four times to remove Trump - selfishly dividing Americans more and more each time.
It is time for them to learn how to serve America again instead of only their big money NYC and West Coast contributors.
12
Love it, “obedient lap dog Lindsey Graham” and “man servant Mitch McConnell” that’s hitting the nail on the head. Given what the republicans have lost in terms of individual state legislature seats that have flipped blue, the Virginia Statehouse is now blue, and the Governor of Kentucky, is a democrat. They seem to either not care, or are just to busy wallowing in lies, to take the time to take stock of their loses, both at the federal level and at the state level. The democrats won the Midterm popular vote by more than 9.7 million votes Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million. And let’s not forget the voided election in North Carolina, due to republican voter fraud. It’s also worth noting that the 41 seat gain, is the largest since Watergate, when the Democrats gained 49 seats, so if history is any indication of what’s coming, due to Trumps impeachment, the republicans will once again be in the minority where they were in both the house and Senate for 40-30 years respectively. By the way, during the 1960s, it was democrats that got us to the moon, it was the democrats that moved this country forward, it was the democrats that insured voting rights were extended to everyone. Republicans worked hard to deny the constitutional right of people of color to vote and they are still working hard to keep people of color from voting. If it had been left up to them, we never would’ve went to the moon. This country would still be mired in a “Pleasant Town” 1950s world.
45
I am assuming, at the moment anyway, that the outcome of the “trial” in the Senate will be to acquit Trump...fine. I just cannot wait to cast my vote for the Democratic nominee (whoever it is) in the upcoming election. Trump must GO.
44
The Republican senators see the impeachment trial for what it is. That is the attempt to remove President Trump from office. This has been about his ouster from the Democrats since he was elected in 2016 as president. They have been up in arms since and have never stopped trying to achieve their goal. The Russian collusion delusion never worked so they decided why not try impeachment for crimes that never existed. Again President Trump will not be removed because the Republicans see this as unjust. The Democrats are too incensed and hate our president so much that they prevail. This is a wild goose chase once again. The Democrats do not see it this way and never will. When this fails and it will, what will they try next to unsuccessfully remove President Trump?
10
One would expect that the Republican senators took the same oath (with their fingers crossed about being impartial) that the Democratic senators took (with their fingers similarly crossed).
Why are the Republican senators being singled out?
The same thing happened in the House of Representatives - where everything was decided along partisan lines.
Why is Mr. Bruni offended by only one side in this farce?
8
Trump is not the only person on trial. Every Republican Senator is also on trial as we watch what they will do in the face of flagrant abuse of power by a president.
41
The Senate is in trial. They will prove themselves guilty as they acquit in the face of overwhelming evidence.
30
Mr. Bruni - You cite a handful of Senators who need to face themselves in the mirror. How about 100? AND EACH ONE NEEDS TO FACE THE JOURNALISTS and CONSTITUENTS IN THE EYE AND RESPOND about pre-judging and deciding, witnesses or not, and the facts. ........
The GOP Senators who fear tweets and drank the kool aid (you can run with that one any way you want) hide behind local news that cannot cover D.C. and contract it out to AP or others - and hide behind local news that sides with them and refuses to seek them out.
Please, Mr. Bruni, appeal to the professional journalists to investigate, to track these Senators down, to ask questions and not allow them to dance and spin. Ask How do they justify any hearing without witnesses? How do they justify a hearing where potential witnesses are threatened not to testify or have already spoken their truth so denied the opportunity in front of the Senate.
24
Frank, one has to have a conscience to have even one moment of shame. It is apparent to many of us that Republicans have no conscience, they literally sold it on the day Tom DeLay was passing out lobbyist checks on the floor of the House. Republicans have made their pact with the devil, what remains is when and how the devil will collect.
31
How is what SOME Democrats might have done any different from the Republicans' harassment of Obama since the day he was elected? The House leadership kept it in check until Trump, emboldened by lack of pushback, crossed the line.
What about the Republican crusade to crucify Clinton? Lacking more substantive charges, all they could come up with was that he had sex with a woman who was old enough to consent. Then he lied about it to save face for all parties concerned when he didn't have to. And it was nobody's business but Hillary's anyway.
To compare either Obama or Clinton to Trump is an outrage. Trump's conduct goes to the heart of the democratic process and might have imperiled a fledgling democracy in the Ukraine. Trump has been all about himself all his life. He is a terrible role model for our kids. He imperils our system of government, our relationship with other countries and the world's future.
Senators, we need the facts. If, after the matter is thoroughly investigated, you feel that there is nothing of substance warranting Trump's removal, then the American public will be satisfied that you have done your job. The second charge of obstruction will be moot as well - don't we all have a right against self-incrimination, especially when found justified?
You will still face judgment - either way - this November or in two or four more years. But at least you will maintain your honor and dignity.
25
The impeachment hearings in the House showed the true colors of the republican party. There was NO ONE who could refute the articles, because they were true. 45 admitted it all as the partial transcript revealed. Instead they berated people, raised their voices, and brought up irrelevant process arguments, most of which were false. Changing the subject is a poor ploy for no defense. And the revelations since are confirming the facts from the witnesses. IF 45 has nothing to hide, no guilt, why has he blocked all documentation and witnesses?
29
In a court of law, potential jurors who had obviously decided the case before the trial even began would be summarily excused. That is apparently too logical for a political proceeding.
24
@Clark Landrum: Everyone who claims Trump is above the law evidently wants to float above it with him.
These folks are mindless not to know why they are widely detested, and people adamantly do not want to be governed by them.
22
I don't know why Frank perpetuates the myth that Collins and Rubio, were once beacons of moderation and principle and have somehow changed and gone down a dark path. They've always been on the dark path, voting with 45 most of the time. Rubio has always been like one of those air-propelled blowups outside tire stores and fast food joints, bending however the wind takes him. He's not out for America; he's out for himself. He knows he can't stand in front of the cult in 2024 with any credibility unless he follows Dear Leader.
23
I suggest Mr Bruni read CITADEL by William S. White, a book which is essential to understand the Senate. Mr White points out that the Senate will simply not allow any force outside itself to pressure the body on a matter that the Senate considers to be its constitutional duty to decide.
One can criticize the Senate but attempts to shame it into action will fail, as was demonstrated during the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh
7
Donald Trump was selling the favors of his office for his personal benefit. He wanted the announcement of an investigation into Biden, in order to benefit his own campaign. The republican party today is not the republican party I knew, and once was a member of. The Mueller probe proved collusion with Russia beyond a shadow of a doubt. What it did not prove was conspiracy. Those are two different things.
18
@USC
The only people who colluded with Russia were those associated with the Clinton campaign and her friends in the FBI.
6
How do Senate Republicans credibly consider the evidence, honestly consider the severity, and 'save face'?
There is a way, but it will take enormous courage, cohesion, ethics, and stamina.
The Senate could officially sanction Mr. Trump with the following penalty:
Allow him to complete his term, but officially judge him ineligible for re-election to the presidency, and withdraw GOP support of his re-election campaign.
14
A great column that sadly sums up where our politics now sit. Life has to be more than winning the next election. And in a democracy those who disagree are not from some hostile tribe. I’m a former Republican. How can I ever support this party again?
19
Thank you, Frank, for such a great piece of journalism. It is refreshing in this day and age to see facts laid out and opinions expressed with clarity and simplicity.
I have no hope these petty Republican politicians will find the slightest glimpse of residual dignity, human and professional, that their high offices require.
I do have hope though that the American people will judge when the next electoral deadline comes up for these and the many other insignificant figures who sit on those benches today.
It should be easy for any Democratic challenger in their districts to swap those districts by building a strong case of their lack of moral, civil and political dignity.
16
Let's not forget - Trump is impeached in perpetuity. His defenders can not dispute this fact. History will judge and voters will decide the consequences for Senators who ignore our Constitution. God bless America.
29
@Susan
"Let's not forget - Trump is impeached in perpetuity."
I know Nancy Pelosi was loathe to proceed to impeachment at times but I think history will judge it was the right call; I believe the integrity of your republic and the Constitution demanded it.
26
@Susan
"Let's not forget - Trump is impeached in perpetuity."
So......
It's a FACT now - essentially since 9/11 - that the repubs live in a newly developed era where they and their ilk walk, talk and live outside th parameters of pragmatism, decency, respect and intellect. Their financial backers don't particularly like it but it does help them perpetuate their idealistic social projections for the new American Dream; a nation of enormously significant wealth for 5 - 10%, and a grateful other 90%.
13
I agree that the oath should stimulate their consciousness of their role, and the solemn ceremony of signing it in the book, plus they have had a long weekend to consider this weight of duty.
I refuse to "swear to god" in court, because it is meaningless to me--instead I affirm to tell the truth.
4
@Ivy: One trusts in political hacks to appoint honest judges.
Looking from afar, it is disappointing to see how badly dysfunctional the American governance has become. At the moment the the Trump - Republican dominated Senate runs the show. In time that will inevitably change. Was goes around will come around.
America is bitterly polarised both politically and culturally with little cooperation . The United States adversary’s no doubt delight in country which is internally tearing itself to bit. Is anyone in the USA optimistic about it’s future?
11
I know that most people's motivations on matters as weighty as impeachment are complex. However, when I look at a sea of citizens in red hats being fired up by a wanna-be dictator wearing a red tie and praising Vladimir Putin I recognize this as a familiar scene in world history.
It has always been hard for people like me to understand how anyone could prefer authoritarianism over democracy, but it is clear that many people in this country long for an authority figure who won't let laws or democratic values to limit that figure's power.
It is customary in modern times to disguise authoritarianism as a sham democracy. Russia's kleptocracy is a prime example. This requires that the system of checks and balances in the US be hobbled and made to serve the faction in power.
43
Let me take one small step for America.
Considering McConnell's act with a supreme court nominee, his acts considering federal judgeship's and his words now that he is not an impartial juror in the impeachment process, what gives us any cause to believe he will change course?
If #45 decides tomorrow that the 2020 election is canceled due to corruption, and decides he will be president for life, half the country and the grim reaper would agree with him.
We've already lost democracy and we need to acknowledge that reality.
28
@Godot
If the Current Occupant cancel the 2020 election it is time to start organizing militias.
6
Have GOP lawmakers thought through the dangers they are putting themselves in by supporting Donald Trump? This lifelong scofflaw and his sleazy-to-the-core personal attorney William Barr are going for nothing less than a full-blown autocracy, and the GOP is on a path to giving it to them. They have already used government power to go after political enemies and just this week, Barr declared in a speech that he should have full backdoor access to every GOP lawmaker's iPhone and Trump's impeachment defense brazenly asserts that the president has a constitutional right to abuse presidential power.
What does the GOP think will happen once these two crooks are done arrogating absolute power to themselves? Do they think the new king will reward them for their loyalty? He won’t need them any more and he has betrayed his closest associates time and again. Do they think he will always be on "white men's" side? The career con man has never been on anyone's side but his own. Do they think they will be able to vote him out? There will likely not be an election in 2024, because Trump knows he will be in jail if he ever leaves office. Once he turns on them, what will GOP lawmakers do then?
24
' Taking the oath '. What a farce! Why did Chief Justice John Roberts even bother? Considering the Senate Republicans, it is an insult to the Chief Justice. The Republicans have changed the meaning of the word 'oath'.
20
@NNI: "Oaths" are curse word too.
1
The Republican Senate cannot hear witnesses or impeach and remove Trump because if they do they will have called into question the Barr, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Pence, and Nunes, involvement. They were all part of it, or part of the cover-up. The entire administration is in question, and then you would have to consider what the Senators themselves know and when they knew it. I fear we may never get the stink off of our country. It is the ideal way for Putin to wage his war of "every-body is as bad as I am" campaign ... the rule of law and Liberal Democracies look like failed attempts to govern.
23
If Barack Obama were president, Rubio, Cruz and McSally would vote to remove him from office in a heartbeat had Obama committed the same crimes Trump has committed.
28
"Shame" is the name of the GOP-branded bubble-sludge, they wallow in it like it was mud, occasionally adding some Eau de Reprehensible for aroma.
11
Another insightful, and at times emotive, piece Frank. The American political system seems so toxic! I'm reading posts below which parrot Mulvaney's despicable line "Get over it."
The question to me seems simple: Is the President above the law? Does the Constitution offer ANY protections from a President who decides he can do whatever he wishes?
I have heard the word "cult" used to describe the hold Trump has on people. Isn't it more than self-interest, Frank?
Finally, I found McSally's insult particularly sinister. I can imagine one of Hitler's "associates" speaking similarly.
The world wants the American democracy to survive and flourish. Around the world we are all gulping!
21
Respectfully, Mark, those of us outside Australia have looked at your Scotty from Marketing denying climate change in the glare of unprecedented bushfires with similar dismay. The whole world seems to be going mad right now: Australia, Brazil, Venezuela, Poland, Hungary, the Philippines, and of course my own (formerly) United States of America.
8
Where are the 100s of thousands of Americans protesting in Washington D.C. demanding Trump's removal?
14
That was the women’s march and it was just repeated. Sadly, though, we are worn out
4
Hundreds of thousands WERE in the streets across America just yesterday in Women’s marches ... A dozen blocks long here in San Diego. They demanded exactly that, Trump’s removal.
13
They have no shame. Or their unmitigated lust for power has overridden any sense of shame.
11
Hey, Frank , you and the GOP in the Senate have it ALL wrong. That isn't Donald Trump in the White House. Nah. It's Roy Cohn in a terrible orange toupe (I think he pronounces it toop) making like he's the popularly-elected president. Donald didn't think it was appropriate to sit shiva for HIS LAWYER so they just swapped places.
They not only swapped places but they swapped their personalities, but keeping a tiny bit for old times' sake. I look at this make-believe Donald and I see Roy Cohn with Sen. Jos. McCarthy peeking over his shoulder. Also a glance from R. Nixon. All the corrupt ghouls celebrating the imminent downfall of democracy. Chalk that up to clever GOP campaigning in states heavy with Donny Boy's base and lots of electoral votes.
Roy just loves being Prez while Donny can sit around waving a golf club at Mar-A-Republic while he noshes on all those burgers and fries he wants school kids to eat. Isn't this a blessed country? And we care about all our citizens, immigrants and visitors. Sure we do.
15
We kinda knew about Marco. He publicly announced that he would never campaign for the Senate in 2016 if by some miracle he wouldn't be the presidential nominee.
As soon as he dropped out of the presidential race, he announced that he would run for the senate after all.
The people of Florida elected him quite easily. What a pairing!
Florida and Rubio.
10
Frank, thank you for putting this so precisely. The rest of the world has been laughing at America since the 2016 election and shaking our collective heads in astonishment and embarrassment. I don't need to provide the evidence as to why as it is well known, documented and discussed by the saner figures in the media and politics. This charade that is about to begin was one last chance for Republicans to wake up but alas.......
10
@John C
I would disagree the rest of the world is laughing, maybe the U.S. enemies but not its allies, we've been too busy being concerned bordering on alarm at times. Sure there may have been some snickering at times but not for a while I would say, I think the rest of the world as you put it is hoping the U.S. can right its ship before it is too late.
14
Always remember Trump is merely the symptom, but Republicans are the disease. They have to go. Now Democrats are not as pure as freshly fallen snow either, but there are degrees of malfeasance. There is a difference between a pickpocket and violent armed robber, and society doesn’t treat those transgressions equally, neither should we voters. “Normal day to day politics” may always have a foul odor but we need to be able to recognize when the trains have gone completely off the rails and call it out. Good job Mr. Bruni.
25
It is not trump's name alone that will go down in infamy.
Each and every enabler, the congress members, the judges, the members of faux media, all the enablers will be written into history as that.
And history is written all around the world.
When trump's assassinations come back to haunt America, and I predict that will happen, each and every one of his supporters with power, from McConnell to Collins, to Dershowitz and Starr, and all in between, can share in the blame.
I think trump is considering those two for the Supreme Court.
15
In the comic Steve Martin movie'The Man With two brains'
Steve Martin's character is stopped for speeding by the French Police and given a sobriety test. The test begins with simple tasks which Martin completes with ease, and then the tasks become more and more complicated finally having Martin walk the center line upside down on his hands.
One might ask what the Republican Senate is afraid of, but we know that answer.
9
A few things.
1)Can't McConnell be charged with perjury? He said publicly that he would not be an impartial juror (he actually used the word "impartial") and then swore an oath presented by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to be an impartial juror. When presented with this possibility before the trial, he said that most senators on either side had already made up their minds. Possibly, but no other senator that I can think of had said publicly that he/she would not be impartial (using the actual word they would have to utter in the oath).
2) All of these senators should be required to read Profiles in Courage before the trial begins. It might give them some backbone.
3) Democrats have to be ready to answer the Republicans' arguments so clearly and so succinctly that the average American can understand why the Republican arguments are wrong. Too often the Republicans present simplistic sound bites (e.g. the aid was delivered, Zelensky said there was no pressure, Trump had a responsibility to make sure the money was spent wisely, Trump didn't know any of these people who are accusing him, these people are all never Trumpers, all this evidence is hearsay) knowing that many people will see them as an easy answer to the problem. Democrats must be ready to counter each and every one of them.
This is a great opportunity to force people in the red bubble to face arguments that contradict what they have been told.
15
I too have "made up my mind" about trump, but as Bruni suggests, it is based on a mountain of evidence. Much as I made up my mind about Jeffrey Dahmer, you know, based on the heads in his fridge. I'm betting that if the Rs had been on his jury, they would have said that someone snuck in and planted those heads there, or they weren't really heads, or hey, whatever, it doesn't really matter anyway.
22
All sad and true. Since they can no longer win elections fairly, republicans do whatever it takes to gain and retain power. McCONnell is worst of all. It would be a wonderful thing for the Country IF both mcCONnell and fake president trump lose their upcoming elections. This CAN happen but every democrat and as many “fence sitters” MUST VOTE for the democratic candidate... and NO wasted “protest” votes on useless third party candidates. (Trump wouldn’t be president IF the misguided fools who voted for jill stein had voted for Hillary Clinton!)
14
@Howard Beale II: Nothing seems to be more scary to established authorities than anyone who appears more competent to perform their jobs.
4
Howard Beale II: Just a reminder that Hillary Clinton won the election by nearly THREE MILLION votes—the Creature from the Orange Lagoon is in the White House because of the archaic Electoral College. We need to move to the one-person/one-vote system we use for every other elected office held in this country—a primary held on the same day around the country to select a candidate from each party, and the general election to select a leader from those candidates BY OUR VOTES, not some convention that may or may not reflect the will of the people.
10
Republicans are staging a slow-motion coup against the rule of law, limits on government power, and realities they dont like (such as global warming). This is partisan. Democrats are resisting, and that resistance is not partisan but rather patriotic.
Anyone who says that both sides are partisan is both wrong and on the Republican side. If both sides are partisan, then Democratic claims of unconstitutionality are just one sales pitch among many, and the only question that makes sense is which sales pitch will succeed. Sales pitches are not true or false, but rather effective or ineffective; Dubya's reelection meant that his Iraqi adventure was going well.
In a broader context, our Establishment is partisan. It is bitterly divided but used to unite against interference from outsiders. Now a portion of the establishment, in defense of its economic hegemony, has accepted and welcomed leadership by an outsider who leaves this hegemony alone while breaking the power of the rest of the establishment to further and defend its values. Republicans have struggled for a generation to defeat the left establishment even at the cost of changing our form of government and making elections and deliberative bodies a mere appearance, a sales pitch for results already reached in other ways, similar to what we see in Russia. They are happily paying this price.
16
@sdavidc9: The Republicans are a big tent for single issue obsessives who believe what concerns them is the reason for all the troubles of the US. The Democrats are a big tent for everyone else with more complex combinations of issues.
8
I've come to the conclusion that the GOP and their current "base" have given up on the concept of the U.S. as a democracy. They see that their numbers are shrinking, and they have a strongman (even if he has a weak mind) that is delivering exactly what they want: White Nationalism. They'd rather live under a well-ordered dictatorship than having to deal with the messiness of a democracy; especially one that empowers "others". Sadly, they will be dissappointed by the dictatorship of donald scump, because he's the King of Chaos.
17
Some are white nationalists but most just feel like the country is no longer a comfortable fit. It’s easy to dismiss a stupid idea like race having some significance that enables the determination of what to expect of people. It trivializes what motivates them.
1
Great article!
More proof that republicans don't want to govern, only rule.
19
As Republican senators hold tight to their Dear Leader, Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” may in the end prove to be true: the light cast by Trump’s crimes on their lip service to oaths and the constitution should be sufficient to flush their whole cohort down the drain by determined voters in November.
Except, of course, the many ensconced by the most egregious cases of Republican gerrymandering.
9
Bathed in shame? They have no
shame. They have been shameless for quite some time. It goes right along with their hypocrisy.
21
When I see comments below that reflect a willful disregard of reality as they try to insist that the Democrats have proven nothing about Trump's machinations, I can't help but see where this country is heading -- to dictatorship and beyond. The hyper moral republicans who were outraged by Bill Clinton (and then by Benghazi! Emails!) have completely abandoned any semblance of morals or ethics. They, of course, never had them. But in the past, they at least pretended to have them.
27
Trump's hand is where their spine and backbone once were. Fear has replaced their duty..
Cruz and Rubio surely do not want to find another line of work.. How else to explain their conversion from challenger to obsequious head nodders.
I wonder how Heidi Cruz feels about this? "Leave Heidi alone" seems like an eternity ago .. Just like Republicans' search for the truth... Not as it is in Trump's head but as it is in the real world.
Those up for re-election may get a shock from those they represent.. They may be looking for these officials to be honest, impartially consider the facts. That sworn oath obviously means nothing to a bunch of them.
I, myself, am not holding my breath. They should all keep in mind that this will be written about in history books.. I am not talking about 100 years from now.. I am talking about soon.
They will be able to read about their cowardice and explain it to their children, etc.
13
Why draw the line at "Senate Republicans?"
Which Republicans are not "bathed in shame?"
One has to look hard and long to find them.
14
Our democracy is under heavy attack. The Republicans have turned their base firmly against Democrats. Most Republican voters literally hate Democrats and want everything they do to fail. They will take a Republican autocracy over a Democratic President, that's why all these Senators can just lie and get away with it.
It allows the vulture capitalists to fully realize their agenda at the expense of environment, climate and workers without objection.
Worse, I suspect there's now a second line of attack: turning Democrats on each other. Polarization between progressives and centrists seems like an obvious target for outside forces to poke up, with the goal of lowering voter turnout or even gaining Republican votes.
We must resist being dragged into hating either Bernie, Warren or Biden, Buttigieg. The only chance we have to save our country from 4 more years of Trump is to be a good sport and vote for whichever candidate makes it, even if we disagree with some of their agenda.
24
Next time a republican reviles the Democrats, just ask him or her what the republicans have ever done for the common man. They have provided welfare for the very wealthy and increased their power and control. They have restricted voting rights, gerrymandered districts in their favor, have made voting near impossible for some people, etc. They do not care for the ordinary American only to exploit them.they increase the national debt and blame the democrats. Sadly, a lot of ordinary Americans who have benefitted from democratic programs vote against their own best interest I.e by voting republican - go figure.
12
Judging from the facts in your article, most Republicans in Congress see themselves as agents forf Republican voters. If Republican voters should clamor for segregated schools or the teaching of creationism in high school science, Republicans in Congress would demand segregation and the teaching of creationism in high school science. Why expect more of Republicans in Congress? Why not expect more of Republican voters?
8
Oh, to be a Republican in Congress. No thinking required, no agonizing decisions, just learn the GOP script, dress well, keep on Fox's good side and enjoy the good life: money, a staff, perks, and most likely a good job in a right-wing think tank or lobbying position afterwards, doing what you did in Congress...nothing.
20
I wonder if the sneering contempt shown toward Democrats by a number of Republican Senators is really their projecting their self-loathing of their own weakness and cowardice onto others.
Sure looks that way.
Parnas may have had it right when he characterized the Trump faction as a cult, and acknowledged his own membership and the damage he did to innocent people because of his immersion in that cult.
That Republicans should listen to a man who named his company "Fraud Guarantee" is beyond ironic, but his message may offer them the only way they can save themselves.
8
While most of today's Republican Party is built on racist and anti-immigrant sentiments, the rest of the Party (the wealthy and corporate interests) is nothing if not completely obsessed with transferring wealth from the poor and the Middle Class to the rich.
Republicans have already achieved a upward transfer of wealth, cutting taxes for the rich while cutting services to the poor. It's measured in the trillions of dollars -- the greatest transfer of wealth in global history. But greed being a hallmark of the vicious-brand of cowboy capitalism supported by Republicans, they want even more. Shameless, endless greed rules the Republican Party. It's part of their capitalist religion.
This is basically legalized theft and it starts with manipulating elections.
And there is no honor among thieves.
Shame? Republicans could care less. Ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching!
15
Sneak a cell phone in there and get it out to the people.
6
I remain completely baffled as to why every Republican politician is so slavishly devoted to this guy. I just don’t get it. He’s a con man and a buffoon and clearly lacks any modicum of decency or self-control. Or intelligence, for that matter. They weren’t even this crazy over Reagan. I really wish somebody could explain it.
17
I completely agree with this frustrating perspective. Furthermore, I fear my family will once again vote for Trump, without taking into consideration his actions or inaction over the last three years. The environment, healthcare, education and infrastructure seem to mean nothing to them.
9
Oy vey, don't make me laugh.
5
I'm glad to see the word "faction" used once again. See definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faction
Faction definition is - a party or group (as within a government) that is often contentious or self-seeking : clique. How to use faction in a sentence. a party or group (as within a government) that is often contentious or self-seeking : clique; party spirit especially when marked by dissension…
6
You have to be capable of shame in order to be "bathed" in it. What Bruni calls "shame" looks like bubble bath and champagne to Republicans.
12
The articles of impeachment the House sent over are constitutional deficient. The do not contain high crimes and misdemeanors they don't contain any crime at all. Obstruction of Congress is a made up term that has no validity and abuse of power could be claimed of every President that has held the office. The House did such a hap-hazard, poor effort that it is easy for the Republicans to vote for acquittal.
4
Democrat pursuit of impeachment never had anything to do with justice.
You don't kick a player out of the game for pass interference (a highly subjective call in football).
Democrats have had only one goal, from the beginning, to disrupt a Presidency.
Let's be honest, liberals are still angry that Hillary lost...STILL throwing a tantrum. Grow up.
3
@Raz
Oh gee, like McConnell vowing to make President Obama a one term President and to never work with him?
Careful.. Republican hypocrisy is showing.
15
If they're not careful, Republican senators might give hacks a bad name. Imagine crawling for this crude, dishonest embarrassment of a president -- whose dubious election was facilitated by Russian meddling -- and crawling for the resentful, self-pitying backward base that sustains him. These GOP stalwarts can afford to show backbone, to be independent; they have wealth and connections that will keep them from the dire financial straits that most of us risk. And yet they cower like lost children, the Constitution and the law and morality be damned. They are the picture of selfishness and cynicism, mere careerists, a deadweight on democracy.
12
Great column Mr. Bruni. Senate Republicans, do your duty.
Heed the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
13
Have these Republican senators considered how a sham acquittal of Trump will affect the United States’ credibility and standing in the world? Or have they decided that 3 years of the Trump presidency has made that question moot?
10
Democrats should be happy. Many of of those Republicans will be replaced the next election.
9
You used to be the restaurant critic. Where do you think they’re eating and drinking and what’s on the menu?
Whatever it is, I want to make sure to avoid it.
Is it that easy to brainwash public officials?
Are they so afraid of trump’s tweets and the potential to lose their seats in congress that they succumb to his Jedi mind games? How can any sane person put corruption ahead of the constitution?
I just returned from a 3 week to countries about as far away from here as you can get. A taxi driver in Cambodia asked if I liked trump and when I said no, he replied that he hasn’t met any American visitors who did. He wondered why he wasn’t removed from office by force.
Maybe all tourists need to be home on Election Day to vote him out.
13
This is simple. The Republicans have decided that Trump is their God. If you look at say Texas where churchgoers can take guns into houses of worship, the message is: God, the one they pray to, cannot protect them—-only a gun can. And the evangelicals, well, they are God too because they said they forgive Trump. And as far as being good stewards of the earth they have told God money first. And as far as the brotherhood their church prescribes they build walls to keep brown people out. So the fact the Republicans are disciples of Trump is not in the least surprising. They are betting Trump is better than that other God.
14
America has always been an accepting country. The new “Republican Party” makes no attempt to hide what they have devolved into and a portion of America accepts them anyway...
5
I hope all the spouses of these Republicans who knowingly lied in public while taking this oath, consider the worthiness of their marriage vows. You now have public proof of the strength of commitment your husband/wife puts into these oaths.
11
Wondering what the responsibility of Chief Justice Roberts is in this situation? Surely, he’s aware from the popular press reports that many Republicans—Mitch McConnell chief among them—are committed more to party and cover-up than to weighing the evidence. How does *he* sleep at night?
10
Everything Bruni says is so obvious and so disturbing that the mind reels from the acceptance of such lies and subterfuges by supposedly upstanding people elected to be lawmakers. That they prefer political survival to uncertain survival clutching principles is obvious.
Republican Senators have allowed themselves--some louder than others --to be bathed in SHAM, assuming an appearance of decency which they do not have. The party of hypocrites.
13
Re the examples here of "logic" and "distraction" - this a.m. on one of the talking-heads TV programs, viewers were yet again assaulted with an off-repeated Republican distraction masquerading as logic (and which distraction, it now looks like, Dershowtiz is also planning to use in his argument)
Namely that, after all, no investigation of the Bidens was ever conducted, and the Ukraine did get their aid. So no harm, no foul, and not impeachable. And from that distracting bit of "logic", we should infer that if you shoot at somebody but miss, or don't miss but your victim survives, you're not guilty of anything.
Infuriating.
13
The Trump is trying to steal the next election and got caught. And Democrats are supposed to be civil about it.
Supreme Court decisions have allowed the wealthy to buy our representatives and to allow gerrymandering that disenfranchises millions of Americans benefiting Republicans, while pretending they're nonpartisan. Where Republicans hold state governments they pass voter id laws that prevent the poorest, youngest, oldest, black and brown Americans--Democrats from voting, while the Supreme Court looks away. The right to vote isn't being defended, but clearly that isn't enough for Republicans to win elections they need foreign countries helping them.
These Senators privately claim they dislike Trump but he is delivering what their owners want. What these Senators dislike is that Trump can't help but do their dirt openly. It so bad even the wealthy might have trouble buying the next election.
Don't look for integrity and honesty in the US Senate. “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God,” not in the US Senate. Their Oaths are meaningless. They're collaborators, they aren't afraid of Trump-- they've become Trump. And they don't want media cameras exposing it.
Imagine our community legal system ignoring evidence, judges and jurors chosen for their prejudice. Everything decent Trump touches becomes unbearably unclean. And the Senate is no exception.
15
The overtly miscreant behavior, the absence of any hint of moral scruples, or even a modicum of honorable conduct by the GOP prevails in this final stage of an impeachment that was doomed to become no more than farcical political spectacle from the get go.
Quintessential Washington shenanigans taken to historic lows by supplicants to our manic POTUS.
The other side of the congressional isle deserves some of the blame for having chosen an expedient path rather than to persist unflinchingly in its House investigation — this in considerable measure a purely political move.
3
Where is their patriotism? Republicans like to use patriotism for their political advantage. But when it comes to Russian influence, they are the true globalists. They are part of a secret effort at international cooperation to advance oil interests. They have been this way since 2000, and we are seeing the zenith of this corrupting influence. If Russia were Norway, there would be no problem. But Russia uses brute force to advance the decaying oil and gas sector. Russian oligarchs have funded McConnell, Rubio, Graham and the RNC--effectively buying them off. Because they consider it a business interest, they do not realize how unpatriotic they have become.
8
Frank, regarding your final question, I'm afraid the answer is a clear, resounding, and very depressing nope.
8
"Bribery refers to the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty. ... Solicitation of a bribe also constitutes a crime and is completed regardless of whether the solicitation results in the receipt of a valuable gift."
"Still you have the transcript (of sorts) of Trump’s “perfect” phone call with the president of Ukraine, in which it’s clear to any sane reader with a semblance of common sense that he’s trying to trade American aid for the smearing of Joe Biden."
Article II section 4 of the Constitution of the United States reads:
"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
13
The problem is not the senators. It is the voters who put them in office. A good forty percent of the population are lazy, small-minded, bigoted, mean-spirited individuals who will never, ever vote for anyone to the left of Herbert Hoover. I would spend my energy trying to changer THEIR minds.
8
Hunter Biden was not hired by Ukraine and China until AFTER Dad Biden was named as President Obama's lead in those countries.
Sounds legitimate.
Move along.
5
@Dr. John. Hiring Hunter was not a crime. Maybe immoral or cynical, but not illegal. Now let's talk about John Donald Trump and his willingness to sacrifice the safety of an ally to destroy a political opponent.
9
@Dr. John, I’m more interested in the Senate trial just for that aspect alone. I read what’s online on the subject and endure the “debunked” slap to my face here in the New York Times and on MSNBC every time the subject comes up. All of this motherly protection of Joe has only piqued my curiosity in Hunter’s adventures in Ukraine even more. Such a big world as his oyster and only there he finds pearls? Astonishing.
3
Frank Bruni needs to go back to Restaurant reviewing, where is he is better suited. Obviously, he knows how to write bile.
Funny he has no issue with Democratic Senators who have already made up there mind. Speaking of when you are looking in the mirror, Mr Bruni can't possibly see a Political Opinion Journalist
6
I’m sorry but this is a false equivalency, no matter how you try to spin it.
Democrats in the House subpoenaed many witnesses and much material evidence in the hope of getting the big picture. Subpoenas were ignored and witnesses were forbidden by the administration to testify. They did due diligence and were treated with disdainful silence at every turn.
And yet...despite the obstruction and avoidance by the GOP the witnesses who did come forward provided mountains of evidence. And now we have even more evidence (eg Lev Parnas’s notes).
You may not like their conclusions but you cannot say that the House did not make every effort to be inclusive.
16
Senator Daines of Montana is still sending out a standard form letter claiming the whole impeachment is a democratic effort to negate Americans's choice in the last election and that Trump has done nothing wrong. This after taking that oath of impartiality. And, by the way Senators, without the electoral college Trump would not be President. He lost the general election by 3 million votes. He does not have a mandate of the majority of Americans.
16
Certainly the Senate will be as fair and open in obtaining all the necessary facts as the House was during their proceedings.
8
What question did the House not ask, that can only be answered in the Senate?
What witness did the House not call that only be called the Senate?
6
Frank: You disappoint me. What I enjoy and you often supply is an idiosyncratic view of something. What I don’t enjoy is a totally predictive column. I know you need to produce a column, but this one was simply filler and red meat for the never-Trumpers. Note I like to think I’m independent so this is not a Trump defense.
By the way, the facts were never in doubt about Clinton, but the then majority Democratic senate simply ignored them and didn’t vote to remove Clinton, which was fine to me. However, what goes around, comes around.
7
If Trump is not guilty of the things he's being accused of, then he must defend himself and not just sit back while the Republicans in the Senate let him off the hook. He needs the facts to show he is not proven guilty. If he doesn't offer a true defense, most Americans will walk away thinking he cheated to get off the hook, and guilty as charged. To that end, here are some suggestions for the Senate trial:
1. All Senators should recant any statements as to how they will vote ahead of the hearings. If not, the outcome will look like "the fix was in", not an exoneration of the President.
2. All possible witnesses should be called so their sworn testimony can be heard - again, so we all can see how innocent the President is based on what all the witnesses say.
3. Most importantly, Trump should appear and testify in his defense so America can hear his sworn testimony which exonerates him. The accused needs to take his opportunity to face his accusers as the Constitution provides.
If these three things happen, then Americans can be satisfied with the results of the trial. If they do not, whatever result there is will be attributed to partisanship, and the perception guilt or innocence of the President will also be determined not by the course of the justice system but by the political leanings of the observer. We need to hear all the facts from all the people involved to be sure the outcome isn't just the result of partisan cheating.
11
@Bill Kowalski
The Senate will be as fair and open in obtaining all the necessary facts as the House was during their proceedings.
5
O.J. didn’t testify. Why would Donald Trump?
5
We on the left view hypocrisy as a mortal sin that leaves the sinner unable to find redemption. It uses to be the same on the right. The way we live NOW it is no longer such a problem for those true believers on the right and minorly on the left. We now as a country are taking up the mantel of Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong wining is the thing. Or as the American Saint Vince Lombardy Said "Winning is not everything it is the only thing."
3
Maybe this is who we are.
The senate trial is pre ordained, despite the oaths; the oath takers are beyond shameful.
The 2020 election will define us, give us a chance to re set.
McConnell has to lose in Kentucky, too.
20
It's good for Senators on all sides of the aisle now to recall what the great English statesman and Catholic saint and current darling of the religious right Thomas More says in the play "A Man for All Seasons" (in words drawn from More's actual life): "When a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again."
14
Our children, our descendants, all of history are looking at us aghast. How is the extortion, self dealing, stonewalling and covering up not crystal clear? Not a crass betrayal, and thus impeachable/removable? How dim and gullible can people be?
24
republicans are on borrowed time and they know it.
mcsally is a conservative hack who stumbled upon this position due to McCain's passing.
She's toast in Arizona come November.
Let these people protect trump all they want. They know they are in trouble come next election cycle.
trump is impeached for life...cannot erase that folks.
26
Wow there's some seriously enraged MAGA trolls in this discussion. I guess if you are a Republican these days, it must be OK to withhold foreign military aid to advance political agendas, and lie about it. Because that has been utterly proven during House testimony. Sick. Sad. The twisted lies that pass for talking points now.. the last few years are feeling like the end of the American experiment to me.
29
@Ridley Bojangles
At then end of all of this Trump will be acquitted and Joe Biden will be indicted.
3
Don’t hold your breath on part two. I think Trump will be absolved of his sins by his lackeys, but what on earth could Joe Biden be indicted for - his only “crime” will probably be beating Trump in November.
11
the president of the US is a role model for young people around the world. Our president childishly calls people names, ridicules people with disabilities, brags about sexually assaulting women...actually makes fun of people's height....he's disgusting...setting that example for young people is a crime worse the the crimes he committed with Ukraine.
27
Agree McSally is likely to lose her reelection. So maybe she's paving her way toward a gig in rightwing media afterwards. It pays well, as Ollie North could tell you.
23
Too Much. First I read about the Ayatollah Khamenei, who during a state sponsored rally in Iran, refers to 'American Clowns' who would undermine his regime by attempting to control the information about the Iranian part in the build-up to our Cold War with Iran. And then a few days later learn that the Republican leaders of the Senate are busily instigating a form of blackout on the American Press access to the Senate's Impeachment trial of a Republican President. Just wondering if the GOP is in anyway worried about the creeping perception they are, in fact, the 'Clowns' of which the Ayatollah is referring too?
25
We should never underestimate the human capacity for self-deception. It is likely Republican Senators are telling themselves they have already reached an "impartial" conclusion that the House Democrats are the ones who acted in an egregiously partisan manner in bringing articles of impeachment against Trump.
Perhaps the Republicans need to be hypnotized. Or given truth serum. Or have their noses grow longer with every lie they tell.
Okay, I don't know of a good solution.
13
So it’s come to this: repetitively calling out republican politicians for being craven, self-interested, and possibly corrupt, in the hope that THIS time some of them will start listening.
Here’s the simple truth: they just don’t care. trump gives them the solace and comfort they can’t find in their own pinched heart, mind, and soul (assuming they possess any of those things).
It’s been a very important lesson for people who still care about the country and the world: America’s political and social foundations are not solid, and it only took a few people with the will to do so to undermine them.
14
And ain’t that what happened in Hitler’s Germany?
9
The evidence -- actual, factual evidence -- is in. Anyone with an appetite for the facts would conclude that the president has badly violated his oath of office.
Were there any doubt whatsoever, myriad witnesses and documents are available to clarify the matter.
Stop acting like both sides are unacceptably partisan. One side has the facts, the other side the shame.
Too soon to tell? Call the witnesses and produce the documents.
20
Disappointment is what I feel. Not the kind when you don’t get something you want, but the kind you feel when someone let’s you down. The kind usually accompanied by shame.
6
The answer lies in the article on Guiliani:
“Today this divide—between the shamed and the shameless— is at the center of our politics. ... This creates a kind of asymmetrical warfare in which one side can do whatever it wants to achieve victory and the other can’t.” Our society lives in a “media ecosystem in which the truth is no longer litigated.”
In other words, the answer is Fox News which not only allows and supports shameful behavior, it demands it. Republican Senators would have to give up their careers unless they sign on to shamelessness. It is ironic considering how Republicans built their brand on a sort of holier-than-thou responsibility and adherence to the law, but it turns out anything goes when you want to stay in power and in the spotlight, just like Giuliani, and just like the shameless Trump.
16
This goes both ways. I’m certain all the Democratic senators will all vote guilty as well. You should point out the hypocrisy on both sides.
7
@Alan Quaf
The Democrats have the facts on their side, and have called for more witnesses and documents, ie, a FAIR TRIAL.
Then all the Senators can make a fully informed decision.
What have you got to lose?
21
@Sophia
If the Democrats have the facts on their side why the need for more witnesses?
3
Republicans have taken a solemn oath to ignore all and any evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Trump.
11
This life-long Democrat will never vote for a Democrat again. The Pelosi House and the Schumer Senate have treated impeachment as a cavalier political trick and cheapened the Constitution in the process. Unforgivable. Mr Bruni - it's the Democrats who should be embarrassed to look in the mirror.
6
If you are a democrat, I am an aardvark.
21
John Roberts is Chief Justice of the United States, not of the Supreme Court.
3
Let the impeachment vote be a secret ballot and see where that takes us. Even the hypocritical stalwarts like Cruz and Rubio will hide behind that veil of secrecy, though i would guess the spineless tools McConnell and Graham will tow the party line. No matter how distasteful. Trump would be gone in a New York Minute and the Republican party free to rebuild. If they rebuild in the same guise, we are doomed for adherence to truth and values will be recognized as confirmed dead in the Republican party.
10
they have no shame. They are well past it.
9
The Republican party increasingly resembles the communists in Stalin's Politburo. Falling over themselves to mouth gibberish that conforms to the party line when everyone knows that it is gibberish. Swearing solemn oaths they have no intention of observing thereby abusing the entire legal paradigm upon our great country is supposed to operate. People like Graham and Rubio are like the accused in the great Moscow show trials of the 30's and 40's who cannot wait to admit their errors and swear their allegiance to the one true leader. It's a sickening spectacle. It really is.
22
Keeping Trump in office is dangerous. Witness our near miss on another War.
11
If Frank sees McSally as someone from whom he expects better, he has not been paying attention.
14
Actually, it’s a crime to betray your oath, and these people have no problem committing this crime.
The party of crime.
20
These Senators must also have some flawed character disorder that has them defending a near Hitlarian man. Whatever happens remember he has been impeached and that is forever.
15
Bathed in shame might have been true a few years ago but drenched in shame would be more accurate today.
6
@RNS alas, not drowning in it. yet.
2
If it were smearing that would be one thing. Joe Biden is a crook. And let's get real, he's no threat to the Presidents re-election. So classifying him as an opponent is laughable. I'm looking forward to the Biden's being called on the carpet to answer. Will be beautiful.
3
@Piotr
If called as a witness he will plead the 5th
1
The Republican brief, just filed, admits guilt. It tries to spin it, suggesting that the act of pursuing dirt against Biden and son was a noble cause, but no one believes that nonsense, not even the sad sack Republicans about to vote for his acquittal out of pure cowardice.
I would encourage President Kennedy's grandson to write a sequel to Profiles In Courage.
Call it what this is-Profiles in Cowardice
The Republican Party now openly supports a corrupt President and spouts Russian talking points to defend him.
Or better yet, Rewrite that wonderful Pete Seger song (Where have all the Flowers Gone)...to Where have all the Cowards Gone? Easy Answer-they are Republicans.
16
We will see some impartial justice. A small handful of Democrat Senators will vote to acquit President Trump.
1
The emperor is a fraud, how can we expect anything else from his followers. They are worse when you think about it than he is. Trump is Trump but the rest of his enablers are really beneath contempt.
It shows us all how tenuous our grasp on freedom and democracy really is. We all need to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and ask if this is the world we want to live in. Is this the way we'll bring up our own children.
12
Yes indeed Republicans are partial to the core !
They are afraid of a 73 year old trump`s anger .
How long do they think trump is going to end his terror reign ?
Trump is an impeached disgraced President, and whatever he says this is not Russia , and trump is not Putin.
Even after 4 years if by chance trump gets one more term after that would be the end of the terror.
Yes trump says he will not leave, then trump needs to be handcuffed and forced out of the White House.
We have high hopes for America !
9
Frank, I am not surprised by Cruz, Rubio or even Collins - they are politicians after all ,
But remained shocked to the core that 63 million Americans - most of whom I still believe are decent human beings - voted for this Trump , and appear ready to do it all over again in 2020
10
Again, one of the best column by Mr. Bruni!
5
Anyone think Bruni is not biased? He’s judged the partiality of the Senate trial even before the trial. Bathed in shame? I had to laugh out loud at that one. Bruni obviously doesn’t know what that means. Shame is an emotion associated with negative feelings about oneself. Republican Senators have the reverse of that. They feel proud to be able to end this embarrassing affair.
2
Senate Republicans reek of shame but lost their sense of smell a generation or more ago.
9
The Title of this piece should be on Bill Boards!
2
All roads lead to Putin in this sordid affair, but the layers and convolutions require an attention span beyond that necessary for music video or a football play, so most Americans remain ignorant of how deep trump's corruption is, and to what length many republicans are directly involved in trump's offenses. Yesterday an Uber driver told me how terrible it is that democrats are going after trump. His pastor has been preaching that trump is going to bring God back to America, and that's why democrats, who work for the devil, hate him. There are millions of these well meaning suckers in the USA, and their Senators know it, and exploit them for it. It's ALL about abuse of power for republicans.
11
It's time for the Republican's to speak truth to power, and by that I mean to their constituents who are following a false god like the Israelites adored the golden calf of ignorance and materialism. Tell them the truth! Lead them back to sanity. Vote to remove Trump and tell them why. Remember: there's safety in numbers.
7
The Senate trial, if it continues on the McConnell path will become the legal travesty of our democracy's history……….
Nothing before has come even close……….
Trump's denial - and the Republican's acceptance of same - of documents, witnesses of virtually anything requested or needed for a fair trial only underscores the total, complete corruptness of this administration and the Republican Congress……….
Republicans beware what you wish for - using democracy to undermine democracy can only lead to facism, totalitarianism, dictatorship or worse……….
12
Handwringing will not prevent Trump’s re-election. He is what America wants and more important, needs. You are demeaning half of your fellow citizens. I suppose that is what “elites” do. There is a saying, The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.
2
2016 campaign to now, actual statements:
Donald Trump’s assessment of Ted Cruz:
‘Lyin’ Ted
You’re the single biggest liar
Worse than Hillary
I will spill the beans on your wife
He holds up the Bible and he lies
He’s beautiful Ted
He’s a very smart guy
Ted Cruz’s assessment of Donald Trump:
A sniveling coward
A pathological liar
Utterly amoral
Real men don’t attack women
Consistently disgraceful
Nominating Donald Trump would be a train wreck
He’s a big government liberal
I am honored that President Trump is here endorsing and supporting my campaign and I look forward to campaigning alongside him in 2020.
God Bless Texas and God Bless President Donald Trump!
There you have the transition of the Republican Party to the Party of Trump. The GOP has gone to POT....really....and we all suffer the consequences.
15
Unfortunately, one must be capable of shame in order to experience it. The entire GOP is shameless.
12
None of this is confusing. The groundwork for a hard-right cult has been laid since the Moral Majority gained steam in the 1970s. Evangelicals’ fear, self-righteousness and gullibility is the skull beneath the skin.
12
There is no shame left in the GOP. None. No amount of cajoling or lecturing will change them. Remember that until their defeat there was no shame among the German Nazi's, no shame among the Southern plantation slave owners, no shame among adherents of any other movement on the wrong side of history and opposed to the progress of humanity. The only solution is to politically defeat Republicans. Only in defeat can they learn shame. Otherwise we lose America - the one the founders bequeathed us. Replaced by a mutant America conceived by Reagan and birthed by Trump after a 40 year gestation period of moral hypocrisy.
18
Now that the 'president' has implicitly supported the neo-Nazi gun-march in Virginia, what do senators think? Or Justice? What if Trump's debt to the NRA results in anarchy on the streets?
15
President DJT, a GOP senator and a prostitute together enter a prominent WDC steakhouse.
"Just the two of you today?" asks the maître d'.
5
There's a simple solution to this conundrum. Whenever Republicans take an oath from now on, instead of saying 'So help me God' the should change to the 'Just kidding.' God finds it embarrassing to be the butt of a Republican joke. I hope to God that He will do something about it. Poverbs says 'He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart'.
The GOP inherits windbags and liars. I hope that voters remind them of whom they serve come November.
8
The Vietnam War draft dodger revels in the groveling the Senate Republicans demonstrate. Unquestionable loyalty and undying support are the incontrovertible facts that serve as the canvass upon which they paint rosy, pretentiously flowery praises of the powerful Don. They heard the siren call "I heard you paint houses" that Al Pacino's character Jimmie Hoffa inquires of Robert DeNiro's Frank Sheeran. Those searing words, expressed by Don Corleone, speak volumes about the state of the GOP Senate. They will do the bidding not asked, but expected, of them.
Frank Bruni's random selection of Cruz, Rubio, and McSally to expose the living hypocrisy they practice can easily be expanded upon to include Lindsey Graham. Graham publicly denounced the draft dodger as a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, unfit to lead. What a difference 3 years make, especially when you're seeking reelection and desperately need the help of the guy you denigrated! These Republicans have resigned themselves to go down with the Titanic, the nation be damned and forget the rule of law. They see their duty as protecting the "Great White Hope" from the expanding racial and ethnic, immigrant, LGBTQ diversity that is the Democratic Party. They are willing to defy the Constitution by any means necessary. Jack Nicholson said it best: "You can't handle the truth."
13
I've read that any member of Congress that gets past their first 6 years in office is a millionaire, is this still true? I suspect it's far worse than that now. McSally hasn't had her 6 years, no wonder she's scared to death.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts corrupts absolutely, enough said on that topic, we are seeing it before our eyes.
I read this morning that the founders were very explicit about keeping monarchs from getting any hold on this country of ours and to keep any leader from enough power to become a king. Our Republican brothers have rejected that founding argument and are now hell bent on installing their king before the rest of us can stop them. It's really that simple: do unto you before you stop us!
5
As we are nearly at the end of three HORRIFIC years of watching our once proud country devolve under the corrupt family of Trump, I am minded daily of following FACT!
Only 50-60% of registered voters bothered to vote in 2016!
My fellow military brothers and sisters are STILL being killed in wars where Trump says outright that he wants Exxon to go into Syria and Iraq and TAKE their oil and he wants places of Iranian cultural to be bombed into rubble.
They’re dying and 40-50% of YOU ALL were too lazy to just vote! If you posted despicable derogatory comments here about Sec’y Clinton, or decided Trump and Hillary were equally bad choices, then didn’t vote for her, then you have NO right to publish comments dissing Trump.
Bernie Bros were so childish they refused to vote for Clinton! “I’ll take my vote and go home!” 12% admitted to voting for Trump they were so infantile.
Seven million of YOU voted for a third party candidate as you refused to vote for one of our most accomplished pols today! But OH a woman can’t be POTUS as misogyny once again slithered out from below rocks.
It wasn’t Putin, or Russian hackers that gave the election of the most powerful position in the free world to the most corrupt, cruel, uneducated moron ever.
THIS time, stand 100% behind the party’s nominee WHOEVER IT IS! Time for simpering childish games to be over.
If Warren and Sanders keep warring, then vote in an adult like Yang!
VOTE 100% NOVEMBER 03, 2020! Do NOT screw this up again!
16
There isn't a real discussion without talking about cybersecurity. While some say, oh the ballot box will sort this out, this impeachment is about using a foreign government to win reelection. And to top it off, we are completely unprepared for the type of cyberwarfare that we saw in 2016. Until we truly prepare to battle foreign interference- no matter what form it takes- we are not having fair and free elections. We didn't need a Space Force, because, uhm, NASA, but we do need a Cyber Force.
10
@MDavy
We already have a cyber force. It is just incorporated into the military and not a separate branch.
Can you imagine how different this whole thing would be if John McCain was still here?
Agree or disagree with him, he had a backbone and a moral compass.
Some Republicans might have mustered the courage to stand behind him.
Was he the last Republican patriot?
18
Shame is no longer a consideration in public life. We cannot change people's behavior by shaming them. We have to place more emphasis on education and voter registration and fair elections.
9
Gerald Ford famously said an impeachable offense was anything a majority of the House at a given time says it is. The corollary is that a removable offense is whatever two-thirds of the Senate at a given time says it is. Impeachment was, is and always will be, first and foremost, a political process. The comparisons that have been made between it and a criminal jury trial are simply inapt. If the House was interested in getting testimony from witnesses like John Bolton or other administration insiders, why didn't they subpoena them when they had the chance? Can a single House Democrat honestly say they thought the Republican majority were going to be impartial arbiters of the truth? If they did, they were and are delusional.
Lev Parnas can sing like a canary in the press or even under oath, but President Trump is going to be acquitted at the end of the day. The Democrats were well aware of that before they first set the process into motion. What they apparently didn't count on, however, was that the testimony and debates leading up to their impeachment vote would fail to change any minds on either side -- if anything, they have only energized Trump voters. That it might have been otherwise was another delusional belief on the part of Democrats and an indication that their Russia obssession has blinded them to the actual reasons Trump got elected. Ironically, all they may have ensured is that impeachments become weaponized and even more political in the future.
2
Truth is not delusional and truth is not a contest or a poltical
Ploy. I am glad someone stood up to the bully, win or lose.
13
@Maria Rodriguez
We all know what the truth is about Donald Trump. But the idea behind impeachment is to get rid of a corrupt President, not to "make a point" or to virtue-signal. It is hardly "standing up" to Trump to initiate a process that is only helping him get re-elected to a second term.
1
It’s not that complicated - they would put their mothers into wood chippers if doing so would keep them in their jobs (or keep open the possibility of higher office).
16
Indeed. If we aren’t angry we aren’t paying attention.
10
We'll not second-guess the politicians. But the evidence has to be gotten to the people. To start, the Mueller Report has to be released to the public without the White House's edits. Further, we suspect that the Ukraine affair is but one of many like it. Finally, the emoluments also have to be brought to light. Still much to do!
8
Bravo.
Also, thank you for the great illustration.
3
Dems have to stop peddling this notion that Republicans are or should be "bathed" in shame. That is a Democratic concept. Republicans do not operate that way. This has been completely laid bare by the Trump era, but has been clear all along. They are about raw political power, attaining it and retaining it by any means, legitimate or illegitimate.
18
Bruni your column is ' Perfect ' and it perfectly illustrates how millions of Americans see these GOP senators acting during this astounding bit of history as it unfolds . The illustration of the wind bags shows there are some standing straight up while others are leaning slightly and others totally bent . As anyone who has seen these wind bags knows , they won't remain in those positions . I think that a few , at least , will bend to the point of voting for the best possible outcome of these historical proceedings . The conviction and removal of Don the Con . My fingers remain crossed but not in the fashion that you suggested some senators may have crossed theirs .
3
Unfortunately, it's not just the Republican Senators. It's their particular voter base and donor base. And the lack of information, engagement or critical thinking on the part of others.
8
I used to think the rock stars were the biggest sell outs to the credit card companies. Now I understand the ultimate sellout.
In the end it will be our demise.
8
In answer to your question Frank Bruni. How can the Republican Senators have already decided to vote against removing President Trump ? The very same way every Democratic Senator has already decided to vote to remove President Trump.
This impeachment is all about politics not justice. I believe that answers your question completely.
5
@AH2 The difference between the Democrat's is that there is overwhelming evidence to support their position, and the Republicans are swimming in denial. So, disagree that is it all politics. It is about evidence. Despite the WH refusing to release documents and letting those in the know to testify, they have obstructed the process at every opportunity. But even with all the obstruction, there is still plenty of evidence to support that Trump is not fit for office
18
@AnnieNP
On the contrary there is zero evidence he did anything wrong. The impeachment articles are a joke.
1
This is why, after forty-nine years as a registered Republican, I became an unaffiliated voter in late 2017. I can never be a Democrat until they change some of their positions on abortion and marriage, and respect the rights of those who disagree with them on moral or religious grounds, but I will not be a member of an intellectually dishonest and morally corrupt Republican party.
7
The irony in your comment about the Democratic Party having to change to your view of the world is hilarious Peter.
11
Republican senators show that they value party and retention of power over anything and everything else.
Republican senators are not going to be the agents of change.
Change will come only at the polls. It may require new voters to register, it may require overcoming voter suppression, it may require getting out the vote, it may even require voting for a Democrat you don't even like.
16
In response to your questions:
1. Martha McSally's disapproval of Trump's "behavior that he copped to — no, bragged about — in that infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape" is not relevant to the trial.
2. Ted Cruz should not consider the fact that Trump "conspiracy-theorized a role for Cruz’s father in John F. Kennedy’s assassination" during the trial.
3. Trump's foreign-policy positions should not "be some sort of breaking point" for Marco Rubio during the trial.
The senators who can separate their personal opinions on the president from the facts of the removal trial should be commended. Those senators who think a president should be removed from office for extramarital affairs, personal insults and foreign policy positions should be condemned. If the president is to be removed from office this year, it should be because the voters have decided to remove him, not 67 senators.
1
Here's what we do:
Pay everyone who ever serves a single term in Congress, whether in the Senate or the House, their full salary, with benefits, for the rest of their lives. Then prohibit them from accepting employment or remuneration of any kind from any source ever again.
End the revolving door between K Street and Capitol Hill. Eliminate those from public service who are only looking to clean up financially. Remove the fear of losing their seats because of a stand on principle.
5
If 100 percent of Republicans vote against impeachment and 99 percent of Democrats do, how can the public see this whole process as anything other than political? Sorry, the alternative thesis that half the country which supports the Republican position is evil and corrupt does not convince anyone other than the Democrats who stand to directly benefit from this process that this is not a political maneuver to oust Trump by a means other than the ballot box. Righteous indignation is the drug of social media and clicks but not convincing to those who disagree with the fundamental interpretation of what is going on.
3
Trump impeached himself, as the Speaker says. This is about doing what’s right and upholding the Constitution and oath of office. The Dems have a base, too. They have a right to justice, politics aside.
18
Even if half the people in this country supported the GOP your argument would be weak. As it is, while the GOP has put a stranglehold on power through gerrymandering and voter suppression, it is and will remain the voice of an ever-decreasing minority. A fact at both the federal and state level.
9
It is shame only if recognized as such. The Republicans of 2020 refuse to acknowledge shame and, therefore, are not regulated by it. They have succumbed to moral-bankruptcy in their relentless pursuit of tax breaks for the rich, environmental and financial deregulation, and the packing of the federal courts with right-wingers. These goals have been the El Dorado of the GOP and abject obeisance to Trump is their cost. Hopefully, voters will awaken and make them pay dearly for their shamelessness.
19
Having power is their priority.
2
@Casual Observer
Having power to realize tax breaks for the rich, financial and environmental deregulation, and packing the courts. That's what they care about.
4
How can any Republican Senator who served in the military (i.e. Graham, Ernst, McSally) defend the actions of Trump? From his raging at the upper brass of the military to pardoning a military member accused of war crimes to bribing/extorting a key ally against our known enemy for his own personal gain; Trump has shown is utter disdain for the rule of law.
These senators all pledged an oath when in the military to protect this nation from all enemies. They have not only rejected their current oath as senators but they also betray the oath they took as military officers.
26
Why do the Republican senators, virtually all of whom apparently privately say they hate Trump, support him and follow him like lemmings jumping to their historical legacy of shame? Given the opportunity to do so, why don't they just replace Trump with Pence - an even more solid right-winger, with whom they ideologically agree? The reasons are not yet fully known.
There is much more to this story than we know now. Does the corruption of the Trump administration go even deeper and infect most of the GOP? Is Nunes just one of many GOP members of Congress who have been bought and compromised? Are "Christian Evangelical" leaders who support Trump also compromised by Putin and the Russians, explaining the Evangelicals' devotion to Trump - a poster child for sin? Nothing stays a secret forever. The answers to these questions may be the real story. Meanwhile, the US will enter an even darker time.
14
This article makes me think of Napoleon's artillery, the best in his times, when Frank Bruni put at least 80 12-pounders on the firing line, and shatters the enemies' side (the Republicans) to pieces.
That's the end of the good story, because apparently, the GOP senators have found an elixir that brings them to back to life so that they can continue their miserable game of destroying the once so vivid American democracy.
7
Republican legislators seem hellbent on weakening the impeachment process, and destroying the system of checks-and-balances built into the American Constitution. What takes priority over everything is keeping Trump in office...and themselves in clover.
In these circumstances, why would anybody expect them to have the slightest respect for taking a solemn oath ?
11
How to explain Republican senators who've become "sycophantic" shells of their former selves? Lord Acton’s famous 1887 quote is telling:
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely… There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which … the end learns to justify the means”
McSally, Rubio, Cruz (and seemingly the entire majority) – are in it to win it; to hold on to their power at any cost. They’ve made their Faustian bargain: an oath to God to uphold the constitution (with fingers crossed). For good measure, Rubio tweets daily bible passages, reminding believers of his purity and goodness. In our time, there still is no worse heresy than the glorious office of Senator (or President) “sanctifies the holder of it.” Indeed, the "end learns to justify the means."
12
Republicans' craven bonding with Trump demonstrates the utter emptiness of the GOP as a party. They have nothing for voters outside Trump's base. Since Reagan the GOP has focused more and more narrowly on the upper income citizens as its constituency. The main thing they offer is Trump's willingness to vent the anger and fear of his voters. Even if you happen to like Trump's "policies" (really just impulses and vague ideas), you should be concerned with the chaos of the White House, the incompetence and corrruption of Cabinet members, and the clear pattern of Trump's actions aligning with Russian goals in the Middle East. It is not a good thing that we have a president who claims to know more than the generals, yet displays extreme ignorance on many issues, as well as refusal to listen to any actual experts. And he also puts children in cages, don't forget.
14
That Senate Republicans are, to a person, profiles in cowardice is no longer news.
There was a time when at least some members of both parties could be revered and seen as role models. But, now, there is no Senate Republican I would want my children to emulate. They are soulless careerists who will sacrifice their integrity, the truth, the rule of law and our very democracy to stay in power.
How can you not despise such people? Particularly when they claim to be our leaders, and the best and brightest among us.
15
I ask myself these questions daily about the Republicans.
How?? How can not ONE of them wake up one morning, look in the mirror and finally be so repulsed that they wonder "What became of me?" Then they go out and publicly declare that it's been all about keeping their jobs but that they have decided they can't shame themselves and their families any longer. And then out everyone!
Not one has done that. It's mind-boggling.
All I can think of is the truth of the saying, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Every day, I just hold on to the hope that one day their actions will come back to haunt them and that they spend the rest of their lives in shame and guilt until they take their very last breath.
12
I do too. I also seem to be holding on to some sort of revenge in my heart. I wonder when and how it will manifest?
5
Republicans are focused upon defending Trump. They are deeply committed to defending their Party and defending the country from all those deluded and malicious people who oppose Republicans views and Trump. They simply cannot see Trump as being self serving and incompetent and an oath breaker.
If anyone reviews Trump’s history, the remarkable frequency of people seeking to both join in his endeavors and regretting have done so is awesome. Four bankruptcies and well over three thousand lawsuits. The big Wall Street banks who were creditors for his Atlantic City casinos who refused to allow their own auditors to question the risks, later refusing to do business with him again. Now it’s Trump as President. No President has filed so blatantly to perform but so strongly supported by those who elected him. Hoover who was able, smart, and stubborn about the kinds of policies Republicans supported to address the economic collapse which followed the financial market crash n 1929, lost his support. Trump offers nothing but blather and keeps his support, but pretty sooner the facts are going to become common knowledge. Then, like the Wall Street banks, Republicans will give up on Trump.
9
Good column, Frank, but I disagree with one thing you say. Susan Collins is in no way a “wild card.” She always puts on the exact same phony handwringing show, hemming and hawing like she’s “troubled” over stuff that Trump does but then always falling in line and voting for whatever toxic thing the Republicans put forward. Susan Collins is a real-life Lucy with the football from the Peanuts comic strip. If anyone actually believes she’s going to have any integrity or decency this time and vote against Trump’s interests then they’re Charlie Brown in that equation.
21
I think we, as Democrats, (and I'll include thinking moderate Republicans, too), have to stop being amazed and confused at the lying and hypocrisy, and face what is actually in front of us: criminal activity, dirty politics to suppress and gerrymander the vote, and outright cheating and treason to stay in power.
None of the evidence exposed in this impeachment trial is a surprise--it's merely the legal confirmation of a mere fraction of the actual violations of the law perpetrated and enabled by a corrupt political party. The Mueller Report discussed much more than the Ukrainian scandal, and I suspect with the outright refusal to supply tax returns and honor subpoenas, the GOP is covering up the rest of the submerged iceberg.
Our government and legal system is wholly unprepared for an Administration and its henchmen who have no honor, no integrity, and no values other than money and power. The Constitutional framers lived in a time when gentlemen would rather duel at dawn with pistols at close range than have their honor besmirched. Today, as long as their FOX News propaganda machine brainwashes the base and gives them all plausible deniability, they will carry on unchecked.
Nothing less than sustained protests, work-stoppage, and unprecedented voter turnouts too massive to be stunted by voting machine hacking or purged voter rolls will do. We the people have to demand, in person, that Trump and his treasonous minions be removed before our democracy is lost forever.
16
Republicans have no shame, so you can't shame then into doing the right thing.
10
Every senator that took an oath to be impartial lied, not just Republicans. Stop pretending that your side is righteous and the other are sinners. The revelation is that they are all equally immoral playing a game of politics. You think that any Democrats went into the impeachment hearing or this trial with an open mind and hadn’t already convicted Trump of a crime? Come on. If some piece of evidence came out sledding Trump of all charges then they (or you) would suddenly acquit him? No likely. You are just as bad as the Republicans.
2
False equivalency alert. Democrats reliably jettison their members when proof of wrongdoings are revealed. See
Al Franken. To defend Trump is to ignore reality and abandon your integrity.
5
Martha McSally is not only an embarassment to herself, she is an embarassment to the State of Arizona. She will again lose her bid for a Senate seat when she comes up against Mark Kelly. She not only has lost her moral compass, but she is shirking her responsibility & duty to uphold the constitution. She owes Trump her seat in the Senate because she was appointed after losing the election to Senator Sinema, despite the objections of the McCain family, whose seat she filled. Apparently her stauch support of a corrupt President is a requirement for her appointment. She is not respected in this State, with the exception of the few who still believe the pathalogical liar that is the man in the White House. She has done nothing for this State of any significance either as a Congressional Representative (she was mine) or in her current underserved seat in the Senate. However, she is very good at photo ops, as witnessed in her website and newsletters. If a Senator refuses to answer a legitimate & crucial question from a journalist then this notion of her self defined "toughness" is questionable. In my mind, she is a coward.
16
Hypocrites insist their warped mirrors are accurate.
If you use their own words to describe them, you get reality.
Trump calling those holding him to account "brazen and lawless" fits him to a tee.
There were 2 fighter pilots in the news this week. Sully Sullenberger and McSally- only one called someone a hack while in the very moment behaving as a partisan hack. You brought your character to the job, Ms. McSally.
Newt Gingrich, Mr 3X Marital Cheater popped up to bray that Pelosi "trivializing the Constitution" when he led the charge to dump a president for lying just like he was doing in real time about an affair.
The GOP is a lost tribe of hypocrites wandering in the desert with their warped mirrors.
11
After my Senator votes against impeaching Trump, I want him (Portman of Ohio) to come back and finally have live, in person, town hall meetings with his constituents to directly be able to ask why he voted that way. We deserve the opportunity to ask him questions in person. He as our representative owes us his reasoning and explanation.
You want our votes, we want the opportunity to speak directly to you.
16
First how can anyone support Trump who is a rotten-to-the core human being. Second why don't the Republicans stand up to him - he's a blow-hard bully underneath the bluster a vile coward (the president of France shut him up with the waved of a finger and the one liner, "let's be serious").
17
Me and my brother against my cousin. Me and my cousin against my tribe. Me and my tribe against the world. Our civil society has ceased to include all of us together.
1
"Doesn’t that nag at you even a little?"
Republican depravity magnificently described by Bruni.
I appreciate Frank's descriptive and writing skills, because I was cursed by my half-Irish mother with a fascination and concern for politics and our Constitution.
Now witnessing the Trump regime, my brain short circuits, seizes up, sputters at the horror of Trumpism and the mindless, soulless GOP politicians following Trump on the road to hell and taking our country with them.
But, the Trump Republicans aren't just "bathed in shame"; they are welcoming it, spreading it like an SDT, basking in it, and making it worse every day they are in office. which makes their behavior even more disgusting.
However, to put this nasty Trumpism into perspective, we appear to be experiencing yet another "have-you-no-shame," Lord-of-the-Flies moment in our history--although my husband I agree that Trumpism is even worse than McCarthyism (which we witnessed in the early 1950s) in terms of its short and long-term impact and worldwide mass destruction of the values of decency and democracy.
At least make Trump a one-term president and send his GOP enablers with him!
18
Next to Trump, the modern Republican party is the best thing that ever happened to Putin.
14
Everyone of those United States senators could go home and make a good living doing whatever they did before they entered the Senate. Most could live on their investment incomes alone. They could write books about their government experience. Or sit on corporate boards like Hunter Biden did. That is what makes their dishonorable behavior so reprehensible. They won't miss a meal if they do the right thing.
11
The assumption is made that senators wouldn't survive voting against Trump, that he has something on them.
I disagree.
If Trump were found guilty in the senate, many of the right would be outraged. By November, most of them - not all, there are those as history has taught us that will follow monsters to the end - will come to realize that they've had been had. They will rise from the trance an acknowledge that Trump was foul to the core.
If only senators could put love of country before personal wants. Courage, not a trait associated with Republicans.
15
Was it not the revalation that Nixon's White House conversations were recorded that led to his downfall?
The fact that this Senate has no interest in acquiring the hastily secured records of Trumps July 25 phone declares that they have no interest in the "impartial justice" they have sworn to uphold. A partisan impeachment? I don't think so, it is a derelict Senate.
12
Couple of things totally unreasonable to Martha McSally about Manu Riju's daring to ask her a "reasonable question": his appearance and his name.
12
Why assume that these Republicans still have a conscience to which you can appeal? Republicans have outlawed moral conscience among their office holders.
20
I disagree. I am an "Independent" voter, but I am also a Trumpian. I vote for those politicians who are brave enough to oppose the politically correct ideology that has undermined America since the late 1980s. I voted for Republicans who represent Tennessee in the Senate; they along with the other Republicans (except the RINOS like Romney) will vote to exonerate President Trump because he has not committed any crimes. I look forward to his acquittal, to his re-election in November; I am just sorry that he can't be re-elected again, and again, and again. Thank you.
13
Those initials say all we need to know.
22
Do you know how scary your last sentence is. For any president.
16
By your conclusion sentence you out more than your “Trumpian” fever. That sentence is exactly why Trump’s type of “leadership” should never hold office again, it empowers the thoughts evident between and behind the lines of your post.
18
Well at least Republican senators are "bathed." Take a look at the people who attend a Trump rally. Not so much.
13
@Cousin Greg, I share your “fed up ness” but we won’t get anywhere as a nation with tasteless insults. I’m as anti Trump as you can get but I know that our country is in a dangerous divide. Let’s disagree with the MAGA supporters’ ignorant politics all you want but don’t attack them hatefully as a individuals or a group. That is exactly what they want you to do. Their goal is to divide and conquer just like their supreme leader, DJT, the right wing cult leader has taught them. Let’s not be as base as his Base.
6
Frank, thanks again for a great column. The thoughts you express are exactly those on my mind, and the minds of almost everyone I know.
How can this be? How can the senators who have sworn these oaths compromise themselves in the service of this man?
And not just any garden-variety politician... a horrible, incompetent, and staggeringly dishonest shell of a human being. How can they?
10
History is a collective memory system, and their heinous behavior, and lying when under oath, will be remembered for decades to come. Unless Trump & Co. actually rewrite the history books, (which ofcourse is not a far fetched idea), their forked tongues will be despised by future generations and will hopefully act as the absolute bottom benchmark in politics, never to be reached again. One can only hope that it's on and upwards from this sad point in time.
9
There should be a monument in stone for each presidential impeachment (Johnson, Clinton and the current president) immortalizing all those who took the oath and heard the case. And how they voted.
2
Members of the GOP - once a wind sock, always a wind sock, full of nothing but hot air and self promoting and enriching agendas.
5
The Republicans will all just figure a way to rationalize to themselves that they are not breaking their oaths, while remaining partial to Trump. End of story. We can hope that many will be voted out of office.
6
Frank,
To answer your first question, here's how. They've forgotten the Second Commandment, the beginning of which says, "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any manner of likeness of anything that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them." Their new god is power, money and fame.
5
You can't shame the shameless. Trump has taught his party that. If their seats are threatened, then suddenly, they will re-discover their principles. But until then... don't expect much of anything.
5
Shame? did you read the article about Giuliani??
4
I'm a registered Democrat now living in Florida, which means that I am represented by numerous Trump's sycophants, with senators Rick Scott and Mark Rubio leading the pack. Sadly I haven't heard a single mention of a campaign by any democrat to unseat either or both of them. How very demoralizing and frankly, pathetic!
8
"Senate Republicans Are Bathed in Shame…...
There’s no “impartial justice,” just protection of Trump at all costs."……..
Corruption takes many forms - this is but one of the more destructive, more hideous…….
Trump and his cult of Republican followers are attempting to destroy our democracy…….and if successful our freedom can't be far behind…….anybody want to learn Russian?…..
3
Have you heard the latest:
Hugh Hewitt just announced he will vote for Bernie in Virginia democratic election...
Can you smell the rot...
As much as I love Bernie and Elizabeth Warren our two amazing progressive democratic candidates Mr. Hewitt not fooling anyone, his dream is to hand to GOP the re-election of trump.
That's how low they will go, bottomless pit!!!
4
Caligula appointed his favorite horse to the Roman Senate, with no obvious objection from the horse's fellow senators at the time. This seems to be about where we find ourselves now, doesn't it ?
Minus the horse.... so far.
12
please don't post the nonsense that from day one Democratics wanted trump Impeached. Even after the Mueller report where it stated obstruction and punishment needed to come from congress Pelosi resisted. So from day one that is not true.
Now if you want to talk about day one we had the liar in chief tell us he had the largest Inauguration crowd ever.
We also had from day one trump hire a traitor Michael Flynn. Obama warned Trump that Flynn should not be in his administration but as we see with the people trump surrounds himself with like Lev Parnas he only hangs with the worst. Look how many from his cabinet had to leave under ethics issue Pruitt, Price, Porter, Zinke to name a few including his personal attorney.
10
I heard a Democratic senator interviewed on NPR about the impeachment trial. Like most of the chamber, he has already made up his mind, believing there is enough evidence to convict the president. But he also said something like this: "I'm open to exculpatory evidence, but I haven't seen any." This openness, however minimal, is the appropriate standard here.
Yes, impeachment trials are political affairs. No, they are not like criminal trials. The Senate is no impartial jury. But I expect them--all of them--to use reason when considering evidence. No arguments that water isn't wet. Arguments have to pass the laugh test on both sides.
5
I REALLY don’t get it when you consider that if they vote to remove they’re all done with Trump and his shenanigans. They will have broken the spell.
If they vote to acquit, the nightmare continues, over and over, like a runaway train and we can’t get off.
9
This just shows that we never really grow up. It all reminds me of high school cliques; especially the popular crowd who thought they were better than everyone else and us outsiders looked on, wishing we could be a part of the glowing few who ruled the school. Until Senior year when the bubble burst with infighting and backstabbing. Leaders of the pack took each other down out of jealousy. Everyone was cheating with someone else's boyfriend/girlfriend. Longtime friendships were destroyed over power grabs. By then, those of us on the outside were getting ready to move on to other lives outside of high school and we felt grateful that we had never compromised ourselves just to taste the impermanence of popularity. The current administration is run by the most emotionally unstable quarterback I've ever seen and all of his cheerleaders have sworn fealty to him. The thing is, cheerleaders are replaceable, there's always new, fresh faces to replace them. Trump hasn't forgotten what the likes of Rubio and Cruz said about him and he will replace them, all of them, with sychophants who are more loyal. None of them are safe in this cult of personality. They should do the right thing and vote him out. That's the only way any of them will hold on to their power in the long run.
9
Indeed, I believe it was Kurt Vonnegut who stated that (paraphrasing) “Politics is controlle by the same people who ran student government in high school.”
How would this so-called trial pan out if all votes were taken in complete anonymity? Would some Republican senators vote against their president without fear of being bullied and losing their constituents? Surely many of them are appalled by his ignorance and ineptitude. Sone are astute and seasoned politicians; they are not blind. Then again, some might just be all-in anyway until every conservative Supreme Court justice is sworn in, every Obama program rolled back, every liberal program returned to a distant past, every global initiative from climate change to trade curtailed and so much many other goals of their party. It is not really Trump they support and want so desperately to keep in office. It is the assurance that their agendas will be carried out with his stamp of approval while in power. They are well aware that they can manipulate him and are willing to play spineless obsequious sycophants at any cost.
6
What retribution is there for a dozen Republican Senators to get together, stand for truth and justice and convict Trump. He would be gone and powerless. Those Senators could gain some self-respect.
10
“ How in God’s name — and it was in God’s name — can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”?“
Make no mistake.
This is betrayal of their oath.
This is betrayal of the Constitution.
This is betrayal of America.
They are undermining the foundation of the country willfully.
Is betrayal of oath and country a crime?
This is what happens without the rule of law.
11
The Republicans supporting Trump don’t feel they have any other path. They have come to the end of the only line they can imagine. They are empty and devoid of substance(as he is).
For several years now many have been quoting Yeats: “The center cannot hold.... The best lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Now we must turn to another WW 1 era poet, T.S. Eliot: “ We are the hollow men, We are the stuffed men, Leaning together headpiece filled with straw....This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.”
I hope our wonderful country can survive.
7
these GOP Senators should be so ashamed of themselves and should NOT look into mirrors in the morning before they get out of their houses. it is so sad that America used to be beacon of the world: when people around the world suffered from injustice, they always looked toward America for guide. no more ! i wonder if John McCain was still alive, what would Lindsay Graham do ??? is there no Congressperson who would stand up to shenanigans of this president to protect our Constitution ? is there no Congressperson who wants to do the right thing, albeit that would cost you a seat in politics ? is there no Congressperson feeling a sense of pride telling their children, grandchildren , in standing up for justice when they have a chance to do so ?
3
The Democrats in the House have done their job admirably and have lived up to their oath of office by impeaching Trump. No matter what happens in the future, he will FOREVER be impeached. Nothing can remove that "scarlet letter" from his forehead. Now, the responsibility passes to the Senate where they have an opportunity to fulfill their oath by passing impartial judgement in the matter. The issue is whether, based on the articles of impeachment, Trumps conduct justifies removal from office. Should the Senate not vote for removal from office, this does not means that Trump has been exonerated. Only a fool would believe that. If Republicans vote to retain Trump in office, despite all that he has done, they will go down with him in defeat in the next election and the Republican party will have committed political suicide.
8
Little will be said or done at the Senate impeachment trial that will have any real impact on the outcome. What we do know is that both sides are fully intrenched and ready to unleash what each believes to be irrefutable evidence.
Here we are, and Mr. Bruni’s piece is so thick of hypocrisy that special reading glasses are now a prerequisite.
Indeed, a “fair” Senate trial is the only reasonable outcome here, notwithstanding the total mockery of justice that took place in the House where secret meetings, virtually non-existent Republican witnesses, absolute denial of legal representation by the defendant, President Trump, and other shameful prejudices tainted this process in such a way that our founder’s feared most. In plain site, and for all to bear witness, our elected leaders are fully engaged in this partisan effort to topple a President and reverse an election, sentiments which was borne long before circumstances involving any hold on Ukrainian aid. Mr. Nadler’s tirades against the newly elected administration began in 2016, “We cannot wait four years to vote Mr. Trump out of office...”
As the Democrats press for their list of witnesses, to include John Bolton and others, and the media stages its wall-to-wall coverage, preparation must be well underway to defend those witnesses expected to be called by Republicans, including Joe and Hunter Biden, and others that may have some relationship to the corruption we all know to exist in the Ukraine.
Let the circus begin.
2
I have this dream -- and like most dreams it is quite unrealistic, I recognize that -- that Republicans are not as venal and cowardly as they appear to be, but are just playing the mewling sycophant on TV.
See, I genuinely believe that most, if not very nearly all, Congressional Republicans in both Houses of Congress fully recognize that Trump is guilty of the serious charges that he has been impeached for and of much, much else besides that presents equal or even greater danger to our nation's institutions and well-being. And they clearly recognize that he is truly unfit for the office he holds and is highly unstable and paranoid, adamantly ignorant and temper-driven.
My dream is that they want Trump out as badly as all decent, informed Americans want Trump out, but they are afraid of his reaction were he to be removed, and what he might do with his role as Commander in Chief if he saw his tenure ending, either by election or by impeachment and removal. So Republicans have huddled with Democrats to outwardly pretend to be acquitting Trump, but then at the last moment voting almost unanimously to remove him, ending his presidency in an instant before he would have time to react.
It's just a silly dream, I know. Like everything that would be too good to be true, it could never really happen, could it?
6
It appears to me that they will all commit perjury if they do not attempt to be impartial. And how can Mitch McConnell take the oath with a straight face? How more corrupt could a politician possibly be?
5
In a Senate race I would tell voters...My opponent does not think foul language, bribery, lack of financial transparency, hiring criminals, infidelity, division, are bad characteristics in a politician.
5
They do not recognize any other then their own ideas and needs as legitimate. hen the Dems won the congress they decided to ignore and obstruct. They see themas an enemy and that they have the rights to do whatever it takes to"make America Great again" (and get reelected).
1
For all those who say that the democrats have an agenda, please look at the facts — starting with the testimonies we heard in November, most of them from non-partisan civil servants who testified to what they saw going on around them.
What they saw was an administration that has broken all norms and is taking apart the structures of government — not a perfect government, but one that works behind the scenes towards consensus within a system
of checks and balances. Think of Fiona Hill and Lt. Colonel Vindman and Robert Taylor — people we can trust to do their work based on their ethics, consensus policy, and a willingness to serve.
When Democrats perhaps jumped the gun with talk of impeachment early on, they were already seeing signs of an unfit and erratic leader. And there was already evidence that raised many an eyebrow. The Mueller report raises major questions and was meant to be a blueprint for impeachment.
As Pelosi said, she understood that impeachment was not meant to be used as a fly swatter and she understood the ramifications of moving in that direction, even with the Mueller report — a detailed document, perhaps too detailed and nuanced for the average American.
But the Ukraine scandal forced her hand. And the categorical denial of subpoenaed witnesses and documents. I don’t know which is scarier. I’d have to say an administration that categorically ignores a lawful inquiry is as scary as the first article. It was an inquiry. What do you have to hide, Mr Prez?
5
Ironically, Trump is actually doing tremendous damage to the Republican brand. The R Senators might actually be doing themselves a favor, ripping off a bandaid, if they actually removed Trump from office. It's entirely possible that his continued presence in the White House will stimulate a groundswell of votes for Democrats which could carry over to other offices down the ballot.
4
This article is basically preaching to the choir. The Senate Republicans have turned into a rubber stamp for Trump - they have become a de facto arm of the executive branch. This is how dictatorships are formed.
4
i would assume at this point that the headline here is sarcasm at it's best. much like trump, the gop is morally and ethically incapable of feeling shame, they only feel the need for servile worship at the throne of trump.
4
The Russians knew what they were doing when they gave varying amounts of money to each and every Republican candidate in 2016. While many of those dollars were funneled through the NRA, the source was Russia--our adversary. Mitch McConnell was well remunerated to defy the will of the American public with more than $6+ million, with the primary recipient of Russian good will was Trump, who received $30 million. Putin has good reason for that smug smile of his. The President and his Republican toadies are indeed bathed in shame.
11
We should stop talking republicans and democrats and just talk about doing the right thing for the country and people that pay their salaries. If we stop obsessing about it, maybe it will rub off.
4
trump had Barr secretly create a new investigation of Clinton. This is material evidence needed for the current Impeachment hearing to prove trump goes after his political opponents.
Shame on the media for hiding the story on the back page where it states no criminal wrongdoing found regarding Clinton or her foundation.
7
Apparently not. An awful lot of people in this country seem to no longer know right from wrong, only allegiance to a fascist dictator. And they were brought up better than that. I have family members who are in that camp and I bet many other people do too. It's a heartbreak and a betrayal.
4
The GOP has no legitimacy with a white wash of Trump’s corruption. They can only believe an outright fantasy of Trump’s activities as well meaning without wrong doing. It is called brainwashing. That is what we are up against.
4
After 48 yrs as a registered Republican I now vote as an independent. If, for no other reason, I could never vote for this narcissist in the white house is his total abandonment of Puerto Rico and his total disrespect for our National Park system. To even consider commercializing Yellowstone and the others reflects this man's total ignorance and distain for this nation and its heritage.
1315
@Karn Griffen Abandonment of Puerto Rico? Did you read the news today about the warehouse full of hurricane aid that was NOT distributed? Isn't the elected Puerto Rico "leadership" supposed to lead, to prepare for annual hurricanes? Or are the Puerto Rican "leaders" merely ceremonial leaders?
1
@Karn Griffen
Thank you.
The abandonment of Puerto Rico is shameful and despicable and speaks for itself.
But as a Westerner the attacks on our public treasures horrifies me. We spent a lot of time when I was a kid exploring the magnificent parks and monuments and forests that belong to us, to the American people, and which are as irreplaceable as they are majestic.
All of this must be preserved, guarded and protected for future generations.
This is our heritage. And no amount of money could fix it if it's allowed to be damaged or exploited by the extraction industry, which is a terrible polluter and has taken to leveling entire mountains now in search of riches that could probably be found elsewhere.
And, many of our public lands also have spiritual meaning to the First Nations and should never be abused.
85
@Karn Griffen
It's very sane thought. Please vote as an independent or at least, do not vote at all like many Obama voters who didn't vote for Clinton, which costed Democrats and the country a loss. Not voting Trump will help Democrat candidate.
19
Trump is only trying to defend executive privilege. You know, that and all the other presidential powers and privileges he has spent a lifetime defending, especially during the Obama administration.
1
Senate Republicans have to appear loyal to their party if they intend to run again. Appearing loyal is not, however, a binding action. It is (bad) theater and nothing more. Notive that all of them do it even though it borders on statistically impossible that they all actually like Trump or think he is competent.
Democrats made the mistake of not removing Clinton, and odds are Republicans will make a much worse mistake by not removing Trump. We really will not know until they vote as jurors, and preemptive public fretting about it only makes it harder for Republicans to break from their cult. I am reminded of a quote from the movie "Charlie Wilson's War". To paraphrase: "This is not going to get done with [public events]. It will get done quietly..."
1
Mr. Bruni wrote that we can discount "Lev Parnas’s ongoing aria of atonement" among other things that amount to admissions by the Republican Party to having participated in criminal conduct - bribery and extortion of a foreign leader in exchange for sabatoging a political rival of the President.
No, I cannot discount Mr. Parnas's many admission-like statements, and possible evidence that contradicts the President. What I really cannot let go of is the clear evidence that the President planned on harming a US Official, a diplomat, who was in the way of his illegal objective. Parnas has made clear that she was the object of illegal harassment and a future attack, on her person or, her reputation.
The President's PERFECT CALL evidences that a US Official was going to go through "some things" is to me as much a horror as the 400 million dollar extortion/bribery of a foreign leader.
The Senators' audible gulps when Justice Roberts entered the Senate Chambers reveals the fresh cold reality that the law is conservative, and won't stand for non-sense. There is NO SUCH THING as a liberal judge, anywhere, and all justice is conservative. And in that regard, the threats to abdicate from the jury's duties to remain impartial, during the impeachment trial will not do under this Justice.
6
If we look at the comments section, we see the answer to Mr. Bruni's question. The senators tell themselves that the Democrats aren't a legitimate party and that the investigations into Donald Trumps activities and the resulting impeachment resolutions are purely partisan persecution. Many of the senators probably have convinced themselves of this scenario (in part because at least some of them probably will want to do just this to the next president who is a Democrat), and I suspect that even those who dislike Donald Trump still believe that it can only be a partisan action to impeach him, because he's a Republican president and therefore by definition shouldn't be impeached.
2
Compliments to Ben Wiseman & Drew Angerer: the image accompanying the article made me laugh aloud. Ok, in a lugubrious way, but still.
1
If only this was confined to republicans. American politics wallow in it. Politics on both sides are destroyers of friendship and killers of friends. Trump’s disrespect for John McCain and Elizabeth Warren’s rudeness by publicly refusing to accept the offered hand of Berne’s Sanders are examples of the ruthless animosities politics cause. I would rather loose any election than lose a friend. If Berne’s told or not told Elizabeth that it would be difficult for a woman to get elected President he would have been correct. Hillary Clinton was not leadership material. Given she would be a thousand times better than the present holder of the office. She is self centered, greedy, suspected to be in the pocket of Wall Street. She had little regard for ordinary people and treated her serving staff with distain as First Lady. I believe there is a female out there who would be an excellent candidate to hold the office of President. Unfortunately she has not shown herself yet.
2
@Christopher Slevin
The Clintons are mostly regrettable and Democrats paid for their cowardice during Clinton's impeachment with two or three and possibly four future losses in presidential elections.
If Republicans make a similar in nature but orders of magnitude worse mistake, one can only hope the effects will be as enduring.
2
The comparison of Ms Warren & Mr Sanders is absurd, they have not done anything criminal, unlike criminal trump, who would sell anything to the highest bidder for himself, including information to distort an American election.
2
Your comments about Mrs Clinton who has given her entire life to public service is like reading an ad for Fox News. Unlike her opponent who is nothing more than a liar, cheat & a racist. All women should cringe at your interpretation of Mrs Clinton & you should remember Mrs Clinton won more votes & the inequity of our election process gave criminal trump, even though he solicited help from foreign entities, the win, unfortunately for the majority of Americans
4
Why is the bias being shown by Republican Senators any more shameful than the bias shown by Democrats wasting so much taxpayer time/money trying, seemingly without end, to find a valid reason to get rid of Trump? The Dems have gone down numerous rabbit holes without finding their prize - a valid reason to impeach our President. For all the time wasted on the hunt, they came up with very lame charges. Wouldn’t their time be better spend serving their constituents, ie, citizens of the USA ???
You can argue cases either way. Their is plenty of valid material on Trump's side. The aggression on the Dems side was pre meditated. The process was faulty and designed to embarrass Trump. There is plenty of shame already on the Dems side. The process is an exercise in shame. It will all balance out and the process will repeat it self because the Dems have no other game plan due to their own inherent weaknesses. This is what happens when you are weak. You resort to desperate measures.
1
@edward smith. Since you raise issues with the Steele dossier, there's an interesting book by the Fusion guys, Simpson and Fritsch, called Crime in Progress that can provide you with the actual facts. Surprise! they happen to be quite different than the Fox News version that is obviously causing such angst. Worth a read, if you truly want to make that feeling go away.
2
Dead Democracy Walking. Power is everything. We are clearly going the way of the Roman's, and the Brits etc. etc. Craven greed will not last forever. Turns out we are still no better than the country founded on genocide and slavery.
2
The GOP Senators remind me of the hero of Camus's "The Fall" who ignored the scream of a woman jumping into a canal in Amsterdam in an act of suicide. His failure to attempt to save her (The Constitution of the USA) haunted and tormented him for the rest of his life.
1
Mr. Bruni,
Did Senator Schumer receive his fair share of “shame” when he campaigned on the promise that “a vote for me is a vote for the acquittal of President Clinton?” Was the oath he took that day no less valid?
2
I can appreciate the fact that Frank Bruni is writing an "opinion" piece for the Times, but it is obvious that Frank does not understand the difference between "fact" and "opinion". I have read the transcript of the call and agree that Trump is requesting the investigation of the Biden's, but can only offer an opinion regarding Trump seeking out corruption or Trump seeking out a political advantage. Maybe Frank got a crystal ball for Christmas?
1
Oh and let's not forget ROB PORTMAN!!! I once thought he was a decent human being. No more, ever since he would not see Merrick Garland he is no Patriot and I don't consider him my Senator.
2
Shamelessness has become the premier virtue of the Republican Party. It is not just the way they pay homage to their morally incapacitated “leader” (an incapacity he has built into himself over a lifetime of practice). In order to feel shame you need to have a healthy regard for the truth — for example the truth about your past actions. Mr Bruni’s list of lying oath-takers long have cultivated disdain for the truth. They all appear to be enthusiastic clones of that great epistemologist Kellyanne Conway, the learned devotee of Alternate Reality.
The plain truth is that they are a bunch of traitors and proud of it. Or, more simply, Trump’s jolly band of hacks.
3
Bathed in Shame ; and the Tarnish of Trump Will Stain them
forever...: Well at least we will witness these GOP imposters
struggling to recover whatever good public images they might
have had.
They will certainly be shamed under the glare of this impeachment process....and this meltdown of these phony
Republicans will be a joy to watch.
I am voting for Bill Weld; who with others are going to try
to restore The Republican Party (of Abraham Lincoln)
3
"Do they reason that American politics has reached a nadir of such fundamental hypocrisy and overweening partisanship that no one regards that pledge as anything but window dressing?" YES!
2
Haven’t read the article yet, however, the title is true. Republicans will protect and defend Trump at all cost! Even if their collusion with a lawless president damages our Constitutional republic. I’m old enough to remember, McConnell and Graham both pontificating on the House and Senate floors during the Clinton impeachment! They were the “party of character and family values” back then! They were holier-than-thou.
The Media has not ever reported nor even postulated on this, but I believe that Vladimir Putin has dirt on each and every one of the Republicans. All Republicans have taken money from Russia, in violation of U.S. law. Lev Parnas was arrested for planning to give (and for giving) foreign money to Republican campaigns! The NRA gave Trump $50 million in 2016, most of it money from Russia.
Republicans have sold their souls to Trump-Putin. In doing so, they have abdicated their oaths of office. They need to be thrown out of office!
3
The GOP abandoned the American people in favor of large money donations from a cabal of corporate corruption years ago. As such they had to hide their treachery behind a facade of morality and outrage. Abortion! Clinton! Clinton! The Flag! War against the Unclean! God! The High Ground!
Then Trump came along, tore the facade away and exposed the Republican Party for all to see. The Senators who grovel at his feet and who will vote to acquit are acting quite in character. Is anybody really surprised?
3
Of course, these Republicans are all Trump shills now, but why? It's simple: because there are millions of Republican voters who support, even adore, Trump. He got 46% of all voters in 2016 and he consistently scores approval of 40-45% for the past 3 1/2 years. Asking yourself how anyone could adore this ignorant lout is pointless. They do. And it is they, not just Trump, who must be repudiated soundly at the polls by the rest of us. Only then is there a chance that the GOP will again be a responsible party.
2
I don’t know how they think. They are a different species than me. Republicans are retrograde animals that look like humans. I cannot relate to them.
3
Tell me this... How 'impartial' are the Dem senators?
Frank I know it’s really hard to recognize truth even when it hits you squarely in the face. In this country there are two differing views of most things political. You need to come to grips with it. Right now Trump is President. He was elected under the rules we use. I know how hard it is to understand for you and I would guess most of your fans but this is how it is now and I believe how it will be for 5 more years at least. Realize no matter how many silly stories you write condemning what you see as idiotic those who choose to follow that road are just as sure they are correct in their thinking as you think you are. Nice try but as they say Fake News. Mike
1
So, let me get this straight. If an elected president — well, “elected” by the Electoral College, at least — commits a crime, let’s say one that jeopardizes national security, ignores a congressional mandate (you know, that pesky coequal branch of government), and has as its sole design the corrupt purpose of benefiting the executive personally (and no other purpose at all), and, say, the instrument to achieve that object is the interference of a foreign government in our elections (which, from the tenor of your comment, you hold very dear); should all that be provably true, we should do nothing. Simply because the corrupt and, yes, criminal, executive was “duly elected? Is there no crime for which the executive may be removed in your view? Killing someone by the firing of a gun down Fifth Avenue, perhaps? When good people buy into the narrative that Trump is beyond reproach for all things because he was “elected” and, thus, removing him from office “goes against the will of the people”, we are lost. It’s no longer a democracy, but a dictatorship. “The People” certainly would not have knowingly elected a criminal and if the executive morphs into one (cue the hackneyed saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely), then he must be removed. Oh, and the constitution provides for just that .....
2
Mr Bruni is right. This is a real head scratcher. How do these hypocrites look in the mirror? How can they stand themselves, or is this who they have always been and Trump just let the cat out of the bag? We talk about this at home and just can't figure it. We parse possible definitions of what is a "bad person". We've come down to someone-who-is-willing-to-harm-others is a bad person. In other words, a thug. This is much more than a political disagreement on policy. This is a moral crisis. The Republican Party has become purely the party of greed, racism and zealotry.
4
poster boy is devin nunes - who sat through the entire house impeachment hearings saying that the ukraine thing was a fiction and now has admitted to being on the phone with lev parnas about all of it. why expect better from any republican senator?
6
So, why wasn’t Hunter Biden hired by Ukraine and China until AFTER Father Biden was named President Obama's lead in those countries?
It was just a “coincidence.”
2
Trump has created a Christian Nationalist cult, placing himself as the "chosen one", and regardless of his status as a serial liar of all time, and sex criminal sociopath, the TrumpVangelicals and many Catholics will not stray.
It's inconceivable that Boomers who grew up with the threat of nuclear war at the hands of Russians would now excuse, or even embrace Trump's fealty to Putin's murderous regime.
Social media manipulators, Foxnews, and hate radio have brainwashed many.
Appealing to conscience among the GOP members of Congress is absolutely now a lost cause. They are part of the Cult, corrupted by money and power, and have lost sight of the genius of our secular Republic based on a Constitution that used to be the bedrock of our nation
8
When the rest of the truth comes out about Donald Trump, and we can be sure that it will, these Senators and Congressmen who have sold their souls to this aberration of a man will spend the rest of their lives as an object of derision and ridicule . And in the case of Mitch McConnell, it might just cost him his Senate seat.
The feeble argument of Trump’s defense team is that even though he has committed crimes they are not impeachable, and that kind of doublespeak hasn’t been heard since the days of Joseph Goebbels in the 1930s.
A crime is still a crime, a fraud is still a fraud, and a liar who cannot help himself will always remain a liar.
And incidentally, those Congressman prosecuting the case for Trump’s impeachment should understand that if he says that he does not know Lev Parnas , there is an even greater cause to invoke the 25th amendment. And if Trump does in fact know this man , which is obvious to even the most oblivious person in the country, then he has proven that he is a liar and that he has lied to the American people. Either way ,his lack of fitness for the office of president has been proven for over 1000 days .
Lastly, the argument that his defense team is making, which states that this impeachment is interfering with a fair election is a pile of garbage. It has been proven by Robert Mueller that the election was anything but fair and legitimate. Which means that Donald Trump is illegitimate twice :both because of his actual election
and his actions.
7
The problem, Mr. Bruni, is that the Senate Republicans feel no shame at all. Just doin' bidness.
6
Let's be realistic, how dumb are these diehards to defend Trump when they are aware he discards people when he no needs to use them? None belong in Senate, they lack the basic ability to reason and form an intelligent opinion on this contempable, ill formed, arrogant, using his own words to describe him, "dope and baby" that holds the title of President.
8
trump proves every day that there are no consequences for lying under oath, or any other crimes, as long as you are white male and republican.
7
My dog does a spot-on impersonation of Lindsey Graham. When I asked her if she was ashamed after stealing a piece of meat, she gave me the perfect Lindsay Graham
look. “Shame, what shame?” I got the meat, didn’t I?”
5
C'mon Frank, it's not that hard.
Polls
Well stated Frank and thanks for shaming the most obvious enablers of our deviant-and-chief but Mark said it best;
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?” — Mark 8:36
2
Mitch Mcconnell is a perjurer. He announced on major media that he is not impartial and then took an oath that he is impartial. Perjury is a crime. He is a criminal, unfit for public service. Impeach Mitch.
3
The hypocrisy of this article is jaw-dropping. Just "who" is it that has made up their mind and jumped the shark in front of the Senators he lambasts??
Abraham Lincoln didn't actually say it, but it certainly applies here: "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
Keep your on the rear-view, GOP -- payback is coming to get you.
2
One reason given is R Senators want to retain power. What power? If they define power as going before cameras and defending every ignorant comment made by Dear Leader, then I get it. But that's my idea of having power.
1
"The first: How in God’s name — and it was in God’s name — can the Democrats who have already decided to convict President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”? They’re partial to the core, unabashedly so, as their united march toward a foregone conclusion shows. A mind-meld this ironclad isn’t a reflection of facts. It’s a triumph of factionalism."
There, I fixed it for you.
How many Dems in the Senate in the 1990s voted to convict a POTUS indisputably guilty of an actual felony? (Indeed, how many of they rallied around his felon wife when she sought office?) How many will, based upon the fact that the House does not even charge the POTUS with an actual crime (you know, the "high crimes and misdemeanors" thing) will stand up to the media/twitter mob and actually apply the law?
Likely answer: not one.
Leftism, being a profoundly personal ideology, treats dissenters as heretics -- and we know what happened to them. So, OK, I get it: you leftists passionately hate this man. Many conservatives dislike his style and truly object to some of his policies, like agreeing the Democrats to blow spending and debt into the stratosphere.
But since conservatism is an ideology of the head, based on logic and fact, while leftism is one of the heart, based on emotion (with a healthy dollop of utopian faith and wishful thinking) it is to be expected the leftists will emote, while conservatives think. T'was always thus.
1
You illustrate the fallacy of your point. According to you, Conservatives are perfect defenders of the US Constitution and "The American Way" and anyone else are evil idiots.
OTOH, when the President is a Republicans, the conservative defend actions that they violently attack if a Democrat does the same thing.
You conservatives impeached Bill Clinton for lying about having an affair with Monica Lewinsky but you are outraged that the Democrats would have the nerve to Impeach Trump for his illegal actions of using his office pressure foreign countries to dig up political dirt on Trump's political opponents.
4
People continue to say we can only vote him out- but even this week new evidence emerged about tampered voting in Georgia. What with 45s temperament and voter tampering - do they really believe there will be a free and fair election? My question is what are people doing to strategize for the day after when Democracy is in the throes of nuclear fallout? How do the people reclaim Democracy - is Civil War inevitable? What other options are there? Liberals move by the droves to red states? But if the system is corrupt it’s corrupt. Any thoughts?
4
@Stephani: We the voters did not elect Donald Trump. It was a Republican Pusch that put him in office. The best solution is that everyone who is not a Trump supporter should vote for the Democrat's candidate on all elections.
What about Mr. Trump swearing to uphold the constitution and the republicans in congress as well as the democrats also swore to uphold the constitution. Think about the results if we do not pay mind to the constitution. Do we really want a dictator to lead our government? It is not worrisome to consider we might become a country who has lost the right to be free?
5
Thelma, we will never lose the right to be free, EVER.
1
Having emailed all Senate Republicans reminding them of the words of patriot Thomas Paine,""Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it," (by McConnell, of course), I feel peace within me that I've been a patriotic messenger.
However, I know it's been a lesson in futility, and I can't understand how these senators think so little of their country that they won't stand up and be counted to do the right thing.
9
The GOP has become little more than a brothel. Trump is the madame. Putin is the John.
As simple as that. The Republicans have so prostituted themselves that they lack all credibility.
12
@Marcy: The correct term for Trump os "Whoremaster."
5
Interesting to note Dershowitz
is in a legal situation himself in regards to allegations that he was part of Epstien's sexual cadre of associates that included Trump, Clinton and Prince Andrew. Also. Lev Parnas had a working relationship with Fred Trump. Donnie's father back in the 80's. When you take a step back and start to look at all the players connected to this POTUS is it any wonder they are so fiercely defending Trump. Oh what a tangled web we weave.
4
Weren’t the electoral college and the Senate made up just a way to maintain slavery? If it wasn’t for these 2 archaic institutions Trump would never have happened. Montana has 2 senators who represent a little over 1 million. How stupid when you think that the NYC metro area has over 8 million people alone. My hope is that Hong Kong style protests will begin in 2021 shutting down our government and won’t stop until they get rid of the electoral college and the Senate. Isn’t he country sick and tired of taking orders from these crusty old privileged corrupt unrepresentative arrogant Senate politicians? Get rid of them once and for all.
6
If this country survives and their is a history to read the republicans will be remembered as cowards and enablers of evil.
6
It will be 20 years before the democratic party regains traction. This most recent impeachment clown show (coming after Russia, Mueller debacle, spying etc.) put on by prevaricator-in-chief Schiff (who assiduously avoids being sworn) and equally laughably partisan minions; was public, astonishing, clearly a sham and constitutes the final act in seditious libel. You will lose the presidency, senate and the house, and this will be bad for America.
The symbiosis of hard-over partisanship has, like osmosis, drawn the media (even the vaunted NYT) way over the line into participating in feckless conjecture, and fomenting these nothing burgers (bombshell, the walls are closing in, the end is neigh) and has removed all credibility.
Just look at who has come out as the leaders of the DNC and media gating process shaping the democratic primaries. Not one can even compete in a national election.
There's hope, Bloomberg and Delaney each can win a national election, but after delivering what will be surprising results in the early primaries (later for Bloomberg), they will need you and others to get behind them.
Hope you wake up and smell the confefe.
1
Of course, Republican sycophants argue that Democrats who made up their minds regarding Trump before the Senate trial are no different from the Republicans defending Trump.
This argument requires ignoring (ignorance?) a mountain of testimony, and now supporting evidence, regarding Trump’s misuse of presidential power to coerce Zelenskiy and suppress witnesses and, in fact, break the law in the process. And claims of a supposed equivalent requires ignoring the total absence of any witnesses in defense of the President, the absence of a counter narrative, and no coherent defense strategy from any agent of Trump or the White House.
The irony of Trump supporters, at yet another Hitler like rally, wearing tee shirts emblazoned with the motto “Read the Transcript” as if one of the most damning pieces of evidence provided proof of innocence was nothing short of kafkaesque.
It’s called “gaslighting”.
We may speak of the corruption of countries like Ukraine, but the corruption we now know is endemic and pervasive in the Republican Party rips whatever moral platform we thought we had from beneath our feet.
Make America Great Again? If you’re talking about rampant untethered corruption, certainly our country has never been greater.
4
Yes, 99percent---Enough IS ENOUGH! These republicans will be a foul stain on our nation's history for all time. FOR ALL TIME...I just hope that they cannot manage to do any worse (before we rid ourselves of their Fascist plague) to this nation's democracy, to her environment, and to her most vulnerable citizens---they have already caused immeasurable hurt and destruction, some of which may be permanent, or will take years to reverse. Which is why they must ALL be ousted as soon as possible. Their only agendas are to fill their pockets with corporate oligarch kickbacks, bribes, payoffs, and "donations", and the same criminal pay offs from dictators, like putin---and---to make sure that the disenfranchisement, harm, and marginalization of the poor, the sick, the elderly, women, children, minorities, and immigrants is as cruel and sadistic as possible...like a dungeon door slamming on them, as they descend into a pit of filth and despair. These two heinous agendas, more than any other of their perverse agendas, equal the totalitarian, Fascist state that they want to create in America, (that they are creating as we breathe) with trump retaining life-long power, as his buddy-boy putin seeks in Russia.
4
Thank you for that excellent op-ed calling out these Republican senators for having no backbone or morals. There are two things I've learned in the recent 3 years.
1) I NEVER could understand how the German population fell and followed Hitler into destroying half the world. I now see it's a piece of cake and if the USA falls into a severe recession in the future, it's a done deal a politician will get 70% of the vote playing the "Hitler - Trump Card" and we will be worse than anything NAZI Germany ever did.
2) We all know politicians were phony, self serving individuals with a sprinkling of integrity in them. But the reality is much more scarier and disgusting then I ever believed. As Michael Corleone says to a corrupt senator "You and I are a lot alike Senator" he was understating that by a mile. Politicians would scare the daylights out of the toughest Mafia family and send them packing to Sicily. Oily, Sleazy, back stabbing, boot licking grifters are only a few worlds that describe politicians today.
Lastly, McSally is just another sell-out who was voted down in her Senate run in AZ, is now a temp senator until the next election where she will be voted down again. Kelly will beat her badly and it will be clear to any politician or poll taker that redneck AZ is now as blue as the sky and all the anchor babies that arrived in the 90's can now vote.
6
Republicans are damned if they do and damned if they don't. They have decided to not take the early loss by opposing Trump in favor of gambling that the election may turn in their favor.
I don't think they understand that their backing of Trump in the face of his criminal behavior is continuing to energize the populace:
--that flipped 40 house seats to Democrats
--made state houses more blue across the country
--that voted in Alabama a Democratic senator
--that voted in Kentucky & Louisiana Democratic Governors
--who created a Never Trump movement made up of their fellow Republicans who will not sellout their country in favor of their party.
--who will come out in droves in November to express their extreme disgust in their party.
I don't know how it feels to sell out so completely to a person like Donald Trump. I just can't imagine that any job is more important than your self esteem and a clear conscience.
3
At the end of this excellent, painful-to-read column, Frank Bruni reminds Republicans, "But no one forced you into public service." In that statement, I believe Bruni is in error.
If public service has anything to do with genuinely serving the public, Republicans haven't tried to get elected with that in mind for at least forty years. Elected Republicans aren't about service, they are about power. Power is their ring, power is their "Precious". They chase it, they worship it, they are addicted to it. What is so sad is that they don't realize that, by sucking up to Trump, they have given it all away.
They are pathetic.
4
Give it up all ready. It is Bruni and his slithering cohorts at the Times and other main stream media orifices that have no shame. The Democrats have been working to undo the 2016 election since it concluded. Before so counting backfiring HC/Obama/ FBI/CIA "collision" to influence the election. It must be so sad to be so miserable all the time. Or is it just a job and you could really care less? Thank god there are alternative to this drivel.
thank you Frank Bruni. Unfortunately, and when I read some comments the NYT is posting, no-one is changing their opinion.
An opinion to have is great, when the opinion is based on facts. If you screw facts and base your opinion on that, It’s an outright lie. Facts do not mean anything to a lot of people (mostly Republicans) They skew them and the Times is posting them without ‘fact checking’ for everybody to read. I say the Times is not better than facebook or any of those so called "social media" outlets. Posting something without factchecking - what makes them better? They even put them in the "NYT Picks" Since they monitor these comments (it’s what they/you claim) this one might be get kicked out. When you read it It might have been not. Just saying.
If some Senate Republicans will stand up for the truth they will become instant heroes. Their names will be indelible into the future.
7
I believe the Senate Republicans and the president, too, have been told to sit tight, to grit down and endure because all will be well in the end. The end being the fruits of years of laborious cultivation of this exact destination - the creation of a new bicameral power residing in the Senate and the Executive with no need of a House. I am in awe of the magnificence of this cast of principals without principles whose internecine intrigues have been whipped into this cotton candy confection to ram down our throats as if it were nothing but spun sugar and air!
2
Not only are Republican senators behind Trump, they proactively lie for him! Right to the public, on TV! But Joe McCarthy is still a hero to many in his state. So there's a history of Republicans backing injustice.
4
I can't think of any words that accurately describe the national argument about Trump and his legitimacy. How can you describe it? To discuss it a is to admit it is happening at all and that's the hard part. How would it feel to have an argument about whether or not the earth is flat? Nobody could actually do that, right?
3
One way to judge all this is by seeing if there was any bipartisan vote for the impeachment in the House. If not then u know it is all about politics. If the evidence is there or not this not an impeachable offense. But when it is all said and done i am still in favor of finding out if VP Trump had somehow influenced Ukraine to appoint Don Jr on the Burishma board under investigation for corruption to project his heft for a hefty salary.
1
It's as if we are living in a science fiction story, where some extraterrestrial being has taken on Donald Trump's body and is able to exert mind control on large segments of the voters.
Or is the reality just simple venality, that GOP members of Congress value $174K/year, deference, and a parking place at the airport above everything else?
5
The moral cavity rotting the GOP from the inside out doesn’t require its membership to actually be honest in their oath-taking and pronouncements, only that they appear to. The entire episode is a confidence game, as in con, and the Republicans are masters at that one.
7
What's a matter Frank, turn about is not fair play anymore? Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler didn't even try to work with the Republicans in the House impeachment inquiry, not one. They hijacked the show, did things their way and succeeding only in creating a colossal mess. Now they're demanding that the Senate not only wipe up after them but rewrite the rules governing the Senate trial in order to guarantee their win. The principles they want the Senate to adhere are not theirs.
The Democrats are desperate and have nothing to lose by going full out in attempts to circumvent protocol and parliamentary procedure. Nothing but the last shred of their decency.
3
Your hypocrisy is an equal counterpart to these Senators. You prop up each other’s disinformation campaign admirably.
3
@Kurt Pickard
There were hearings in the House. Witnesses, defying the orders of Trump and obeying the lawfully submitted subpoenas, all told the same story: Trump illegally used the office of President, and the aid appropriated by Congress, to pressure the officials in another country to produce dirt on a political opponent.
Trump, and his party, offered noise but no defense witnesses (Hunter Biden knows nothing of Trump’s actions btw), no evidence of innocence, and not even a consistent or plausible counter narrative.
These are the facts. The hearings were not about reaching an amiable consensus. The hearings were about finding the facts. And here they are.
Me thinks if these facts had been about the actions of Obama, and not Trump, Republican defenders would have no trouble seeing them.
2
Very funny graphic. A more accurate graphic would show them pledging their oath to the trump. Indeed, God is a misnomer for trump in their pledge. How in trump’s name could they not in this Game of Trump? Any oath by Republicans is as valid as anything their leader says.
Their oath also reveals their true commitment to Christianity and their belief in their god - or more accurately the kind of god they believe it - one they've created in the image of trump. Will an all-powerful, all-seeing God merely overlook the orange-one's usurping of his power and glory?
Just as trump is serving as a roll-model to tyrants around the world and domestically, Republicans are now Americans' roll-models for those of us who take oaths as jurors - we no longer have to take it seriously anymore.
Those who sell out and bow to Putin and little Kim's whims must do so or lose their life. What's the Republican's excuse? A mere offensive tweet?
That Cruz-Rubio, like Graham, could turn their convictions inside out to appease a mere trump shows their weakness of character and the travesty that they are Senators. Does Cruz realize he would have to primary the trump in 2024 as he runs for a 3rd term? If "McSally had a moral compass then," why did she become a Republican - worse, a trumplican?
If the American people will not hold all of these characters to account this coming November, who will?
6
Just dismiss the indictment as soon as possible so we can get back to real business. This has been the biggest waste of time by Congress in recent years.
2
Mr. Bruni's right that Republican senators are behaving shamefully, that they lack any moral compass whatsoever, that they're afraid of losing and afraid of Trump's voters. But he misses what may be the key element: they are power hungry. If Trump gets re-elected the U.S. will have effectively been transformed into a one-party authoritarian state. There will be no check on Trump's power. No check, that is, except for Mitch McConnell and his Republican Senate caucus.
Republican senators are playing an all-or-nothing game: either they grab all the power, or their own total lack of appealing policies, and the nation's demographic changes, consign them to oblivion. That's why they are so willing to behave shamefully. It's alarming to me that our national media doesn't seem to see the stakes here.
4
This Senate trial is the opportunity for the Republicans to get out from under the thumb of Trump. Standing together against him, with such clear evidence of his wrongdoing, they can remove him and educate the highly suggestible “base” about why he had to go.
3
Thank you, Frank! I wish the impeachment managers would make a motion to force all the GOP Senators who have gone on record saying they’ve already decided their votes to recuse themselves. They lied under oath when they took that oath. Put THAT on the record. They won’t be recused or charged with perjury, but let’s make a full record of their ongoing dishonesty, and throw them out in November.
5
You and I should share a Delorean as we go back and ask Schumer to recuse himself in the Clinton trial, no?
The moment when presidential wannabes Cruz and Rubio broke and publicly knelt to kiss the ring, after Trump had manhandled them and left them for dead, was a tipping point in American politics. While neither was honorable to begin with, their capitulation to Trump, broadcast live on Fox, signaled that fealty to the GOP is all that matters, and that anyone offended by Trump's "values" should get in line or get out of the way. Marketers call this loyalty beyond reason; the holy grail of persuasion.
3
I believe the biggest problem is that these Republican senators don't just stand to lose their Senate seats. To help convict Trump would mean to literally destroy their whole careers, and possibly even endanger their lives.
They wouldn't get a well-paying job in the 'Republican safety net' of Fox News, right-wing think tanks or lobbyists. They would be outcasts among their peers. And they may have a target on their back as 'traitors' for the hard-core, potentially violent fringe of Trump supporters.
I think this is why even Republicans who retire rarely vote against Trump. They may be not spineless enough to continue serving him, but they aren't ready to pay the price for actually confronting him. It's understandable.
2
People are capable of incredible feats of self delusion when rationalizing beliefs that support their self interest. No doubt Republicans think that Trumps behavior is no different than that of Democrats, in particular Biden and Hunter. Sure, he might have pushed the boundaries and told some lies, but he lies all the time, and Republicans, more than ever before, appreciate the power of lies in politics. Integrity does not matter when you consider the opposition to be illegitimate.
3
Pushed boundaries and told some lies? Seriously? He has obliterated all boundaries and is a pathological liar who tells some “truths.” Maybe.
6
If I was the owner of a circus and needed contortionists, I would known where to go to recruit new ones: the US Senate. Those Republican Senators are very good in the sport of contortion.
3
The obvious answer to your question is that there is no Republican Party without Trump. He’s their last breath of air and they all know it’s over if he goes down - It seems more realistic to me that we have a realignment with populist whites joining the Bernie bros in a labor party of sorts and the centrists from both parties band together to be the moderate opposition.
Well said, Frank. These are sad days for America, for sure, as mechanisms designed to prevent rogue behavior seem incapable of doing so. The trial in the Senate was always known to be the downside of impeachment, given the Republican's steadfast support of this man regardless of his crimes. But now that Trump is permanently stained by the House vote for impeachment, two courts after the Senate will pass final judgment. The first of these will be the American public voting in November, and hopefully the gathering storm of evidence against Trump will result in voters firing him in the Electoral College as well as the popular vote. The second court is the court of history which will surely judge him harshly along with his henchmen and women. These Republicans who try to exonerate him will long be remembered for their complicity.
6
John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the United States. (His role currently in the Senate has nothing to do with the Supreme Court.)
1
Love the illustration. So funny and so sad.
1
I am constantly flummoxed by the number of women, in particular, that I know who have for decades praised "honorable" men and bragged about raising "gentlemen" sons, yet who blindly support Mr. Trump who is neither a gentleman nor honorable.
These politicians? They are simply following their voters whose moral compasses appear to be clouded.
6
I don't recall taxpayer money, or violating the will of Congress, and abusing the power of the presidency to get the Steele dossier.
Follow the line of questioning in "A Few Good Men," 'if you ordered Private Santiago not to be touch... why was he in danger?'
If this is hoax then hear all witnesses and evidence and embarrass the hectic out of the Democrats.
I half expected some Senators to catch on fire after they took the oath to be fair and impartial jurors.
5
Public service? The Trump team and the GOP simply giggle at that idea. There is no evidence that they serve the public. There is massive evidence that they genuflect before their donor class. There is a long history of clinging to power by inflaming racial discord. One example is Lindsey Graham's telling Susan Collins not to be concerned about her Kavanaugh vote because the will be millions of dollars of support for her re-election campaign. What does that tell you?
3
The reality of it is - republicans are driven by only TWO things. One: To get more ultra right wingers (in their forties if possible) on the Supreme Court. Two: tax cuts and deregulation. That's it. No complication there. And trump? He gives those two deliverables to them. Don't mind that trump has been the biggest embarrassment to the presidency since this country was founded. And that is putting it mildly. And don't mind they all had to become blatant hypocrites in the process. What's worse (if that is even possible), I am almost certain that trump will win another term in November, because of the incredible weak field of candidates that the Democrats have put together against trump. So I keep myself sane with the thought that history will NOT be kind to this president and his GOP lackeys. That is - if there will actually be historians to judge all of this after his second term. Seriously; I have my doubts about that.
2
The Republican senators believe if they just hang in there, this will all go away. I mean Trump won't be around forever. However, Trump may pass away someday, but all of these senators will have changed fundamentally, their beliefs will include new self-doubt and fear. Each that saw and now look away, they are indeed husks of themselves. You can't lie to yourself for too long before the erosion occurs. And it will be obvious to everyone.
3
The Republicans senators should keep in mind the current sign-stealing scandal in the MLB. Winning managers have lost their jobs and reputations because they supported or failed to end an illegal scheme (brought to light by a whistle-blower, no less).
1
Why should any of the unified GOPs give their “enlightened non-partisan” votes to the unified Dems?
1
It is a bit thick when super partisan Democrats accuse the Republicans of being partisan.
2
How in God’s name...can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”?
Have to believe that readers, as well as the members of the Senate, already know the answer to that question, which is they cannot in good conscience "take a solemn oath to administer 'impartial justice.' "
Regardless, history will not remember those kindly that have already mind up their mind to ignore their oath. They will have a place in history similar to that of Richard Rich in the trial of Sir (now considered a Saint) Thomas More.
2
Frank Bruni "Opinion columnist" says, "The impeachment trial of Donald John Trump began on Thursday when John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, directed all of the senators to stand and raise their right hands. Ever since I can’t get two questions out of my head."
Opinion columnist or Democratic panderer? The impeachment trial began when it was apparent that Trump [I didn't vote for him] had been elected. The Democrats have waged a relentless campaign of harassment culminating with the baseless impeachment "charges" in the House of Representatives. Charges based on an invisible (imaginary) witness/non-witness. Charges claiming "pressure" and "election interference" even when the Ukraine officials have said there was no pressure and no favors asked.
It is logical to conclude that the Democrat "leadership" prefers for the President to ignore the appearance of obvious corruption concerning Hunter Biden and Burisma. Business as usual.
3
McConnell will expose the Republican party's dependence on lies.
Putin will put all of his resources into sabotaging the US Constitution, just as he does with the US electoral system.
Chaos from many sources. Thank the Republican party.
3
I must remind. In a 2012 debate, when Obama and Romney were asked who was America’s biggest threat, Romney responded, “Russia” and Obama scoffed with Obama believing it was radical Islam. Mitt was way ahead in his awareness of the “Russian threat”. It is doubtful that he thought that they would be openly guilty of influencing an American election, but he was spot on. As an independent voter and big fan of Obama, It is my belief that Romney would be a great POTUS and I would support him over most of the Democrats. I also believe that Mitt who is Mormon, is highly principled. Look at his co religionist, Jeff Flake, among the biggest of Trump critics. I am as sure that Mitt will do the right thing as I am that Lindsey Graham won’t.
3
What about all the Republican Senators no one ever mentions? Is it possible some of them intend to honor their oath?
Just asking...
3
the ONLY vote that will have legitimacy, that will matter, that will certify and successfully separate fact from the lunacy of fiction... will be the one that takes place next November.. this nation will, once and for all, define itself then!
3
Republicans have called the House impeachment nothing but a partisan exercise by those who could not stomach the election of Trump. Yet the House inquiry simply followed the facts to the extent it was able to uncover them. The resistance to and denials of those facts by the GOP and the White House has been the most blatant display of partisanship I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. I tend to be rather neutral when it comes to politics, but the selling of souls on the Republican side has been sickening to watch.
4
I would not say that Mitch McConnell is above the Senators, other than with his foot on their neck. John McCain is above them, looking down, disappointingly shaking his head.
And it's not that Dems have been looking to oust Trump from the get-go just for spite (like the Right does), it is the daily disdain for law, order and the Constitutional system that Trump tramples on that provokes Dems to react. Trump's 'right' to investigate? Sure, but not by dismantling our rule of law and Ambassadors with/for unofficial, un-elected, un-appointed, unaccountable minions like Rudy. THAT's the difference.
3
If, as Sunderland and Parnas have charged: “they were all in the loop,” a real trial would bring down not only Trump but also Pence and make way for President Pelosi. The Republicans will tolerate any criticism and swallow any embarrassment to just keep that catastrophe from occurring. Trump has protected himself by corrupting everyone else.
4
I am a staunch Democrat. I wasn’t always. I grew up in a Republican household. My father and sibs are huge Trump supporters. I first voted for a Democrat in 1982, and mostly have since then. I voted for Clinton in 1992. But I was so throughly disgusted with him that I actually voted for Perot in 1996 (although looking back I maybe wish I’d voted for Dole; the only reason I did not is due to the Republican stance on abortion). I agreed with Clinton’s policies and feel he did a good job as our president. But I couldn’t see past the breach of trust and the cost of his trial to the taxpayers because he simply could not tell the truth. I call on Trump supporters to consider this. How can you keep supporting this liar who is eroding the value of all American institutions on a daily basis? Vote him out. There are better options.
1081
@Now What, I ask myself that question every day. One individual I know who voted for him says she does not care. I have removed all vestiges of her from my life.
83
@Now What: I don't support him. I dearly loved the pre-Trump GOP, the party that saved a nation, freed the slaves, supported policies that increased the wealth of a nation and provided for a common defense, supported civil rights and the freedom to vote, won the Cold War and gave us presidents like Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan. Now it is a party of sycophants & boot lickers who bow in abject servitude to an egocentric & arrogant president flaunting our basic laws & norms. So, now I am a Democrat.
79
@JAM I understood your comment until you mentioned Reagan, who opened his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi. That was a dog whistle to bring the racists into the GOP.
Reagan's dog whistle has morphed into Trump's air horn.
The party that supported civil rights is now passing laws to suppress the vote. Funny how things change, eh?
109
Every Opinion Piece that has been written saying how history will judge these Republicans are correct. The only problem is they do not care.
The one thing I am sure of is that they all know Trump did these things and is an man without morals and has a criminal mind. To watch him lie to the cameras is truly a work of art (practice makes perfect).
Ken Starr condemned him, now will defend him.
A previous reader wrote how the Democrats have done a hit job on Trump. Trump has done a hit job on Trump.
4
As a resident of what, arguably, is among the most Republican of all 50 states, I often ponder what value there is, if any, to my twice-weekly letters to Idaho's senators. Senators Risch and Crapo are set in steel for backing Mister Trump. Idaho once had a senator, Frank Church, who cared first about service to his country. My,how times have changed.
2
Other Presidents have conducted/carried out illegal activities, but they weren't removed from office. Of course there's Nixon who resigned.
It's not even worth comparing Clinton to Trump, since if Trump were put under oath he'd commit perjury and would be in same boat as Clinton. If Clinton pulled a "Trump", he would have just refused to testify, and created a Constitutional crisis.
With Reagan and the Iran/Contra scandal, he admitted what happened, but argued that he was acting in nation's interest. Right or wrong, people forgave him for that. No action taken.
Ultimately Clinton was forgiven. People understood why he lied.
Neither Clinton or Reagan used the US treasury as their personal piggy bank.
Trump did exactly that.
His use of US Government for personal gain, is straight from the playbook of every dictator in the world.
Trump should be removed from office.
At minimum the country needs to hear from all witnesses to properly decide if Trump is worthy of the nation's forgiveness.
We had that chance with every other President who committed an offense.
11
All of what you say is true, Mr. Bruni. But you did leave out the rally in Virginia tomorrow. You can be sure the eyes of those you mentioned will be watching events there quite closely, fearing that if they vote their conscience they will be watched very closely by who knows how many of tomorrow’s rally attendees.
2
"It’s not fun to be any of you right now, with McConnell above you and #MAGA hellions below you poised to make your life a misery if you stray. "
Nicely put and instead of judging and being exasperated, one day I asked myself what would I do if I were in their situation. Would I be brave enough to stand up or against the seeming tyranny. While I would like to think I would be brave enough, maybe many do, what I came up with is if I could not be brave enough then I would resign if I genuinely believed my party was wrong.
4
Three rules for budding republican senators: 1. Get reelected; 2. Don't alienate party big shots; 3. See #1.
3
@MMJ
Funny. The same rules apply in NY (local, city, and state) politics. Run your unqualified wife for Brooklyn Beep, and see who gets elected. That,s right, keep sucking on the democratic machine's teat.
1
As much as you might despise the Republicans who have already professed to acquit, they are merely reflecting the views of their constituency. If there is any fact that rings true, it is that politicians' first priority is to their political survival. This ranks high above country, family and God. Unless term limits are enacted, the only ways you will get senators to honor their oath is to either convince them that it is essential for their political survival, or strip them of their power so that service to this institution is as uncomfortable and undesirable as jury duty.
3
Trump's entire agenda is to hollow out the moral core of our government. It's really sad how little time it has taken him, the job seemingly complete. Half of our electorate is motivated by spite and fear, and it's really hard to see how we will ever recover. Good on you for trying to leverage shame on these wayward senators, but I think it's too late.
6
I love “aria of atonement”! Thank you.
It Is the responsibility of Congress to impeach McConnell and Graham and any others who have stated their intentions to acquit, for perjury. All the evidence is clear. Perjury is a crime; to swear a false oath is perjury. Clinton was impeached for perjury. Why should McConnell et.al. be immune?
Bathed in shame they may be, but impeaching them would send a message to future senators that cultish partiality to party above country, not to mention criminal behavior, is not tolerated in our democracy.
3
I have long wondered what it is about holding Congressional office that causes the officeholder to go to any length -- subvert any virtue, blind oneself to any hypocrisy, do endless fundraising -- in order to keep that office. Every one of those 535 members would do fine in the private sector. None would starve if, by holding true to some semblance of values, he or she should suffer a primary defeat.
Term limits would take a life time of Congressional "service" off the table and, perhaps, help members grow a spine and a conscience.
6
"The first: How... can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer “impartial justice”? They’re partial to the core, unabashedly so, as their united march toward a foregone conclusion shows. A mind-meld this ironclad isn’t a reflection of facts. It’s a triumph of factionalism.
The majority of the party’s senators have said outright or clearly signaled that they have no intention of finding the president guilty & removing him."
Excuse the lengthy quote.
As one who wants Trump removed, Mr. Bruni, it pains me to say they *can*, & they have a leg to stand on. If your own partisanship didn't lead you to such coy, cavalier hyperbole, you could help clarify facts rather than drum up & appeal to emotion.
The Republicans are - strange as it may seem - implicitly appealing to a "clean hands" principle: whatever Trump's shortcomings. for the proceedings to have legitimacy, they can't be a "gotcha" attack by partisan Trump haters determined from the get-go to get him. Dems fail that test, if we grant it's legitimate. If (a big "if", but a plausible one) it is, they have a right to circle the wagons & call it "impartial justice."
As to "no intention of finding the president guilty & removing him," they're not supposed to have such an intention at this point. Maybe language-quibbling on my part, but this situation calls for precision. Their job is to give an open-minded hearing. Say what you mean, to avoid hyperbole/obfuscation.
2
Say what?
As a first-generation, bi-racial, American who is also a full-throated small government, capitalist (a combination of knowing the world of government control through my family's experience and the amazing opportunities in America), I have profound concerns about the Progressive candidates.
Yet, I am in complete agreement with Bruni. It is impossible to imagine a worse President than Donald Trump. He has violated his oath and the constitution. There is no honest politician who could swear to his or her god and not find him guilty. The Democrats stand on the side of right. Sadly, I also believe that the disgusting, Vichy-government type behavior is evidence of corruption in the political class and not simply a Republican problem. In this case, the Republicans will and should pay for their traitorous behavior and I can only hope that the penalty is large enough that Democrats do not simply take a political win but also take a moment and reflect on what a true American should be.
3
what an appropriate situation in current day America, where form and appearance have trumped substance and meaning. This country has lost its way, guided by its spineless elected officials. Vote these repubs OUT in November
3
Excellent article. I will make one point about Romney. He is, and always has been, a phony to the core. Remember his 47% comment? That's right. He thinks half the country is alive only because the US governement keeps them alive. Remember his audition at Trump's NJ golf club for secretary of state? The fawning dinner and photos! He was ready to represent the US on the world stage for Trump. I believe I know how he will vote on witnesses and at the conclusion of the proceedings.
5
The Senate Republicans fear Trump. They don’t fear him the way Democrats feared LBJ or Republicans feared Reagan. That was a normal fear of losing resources and funding.
But Trump has a mob boss mentality over these Republican lawmakers in Congress. Metaphorically speaking, they don’t want to end up at the bottom of the political river in cement shoes.
5
As new evidence clearly reveals, Trump had no intention of actually investigating Ukrainian corruption. That was a canard. All he really wanted was an announcement by the Ukrainian government that it would launch an investigation of the Bidens. A press release, a video announcement. Period.
It was a ploy right out of New York City Real Estate 101: announce a new building project without any funding and hope that the subsequent media coverage will generate headlines that would in turn help the developer find the funding needed for the project.
This example rings true because it is quintessential Trump: shading the truth, manufacturing fake news, bullying and threatening, in order to generate a pathetic news story that implicated the Bidens in corrupt activity. Those who followed Trump's business career saw this same behavior repeatedly: plant false stories about competing developers, use the media to bolster his reputation as a genius businessman . . . all of it built on smoke and mirrors.
Trump mounted a campaign to rope in the Ukrainians to help him destroy a potential Presidential opponent. It rings true because it has all the earmarks of Trump's lifelong modus operandi. If the Senate can't see this, then they have willfully ignored the facts.
In fact, they will have abused their oaths of office in protecting a scammer.
6
Are the Republican senators so insecure about maintaining their seats as to willfully protect a man they know is posing a threat to our democratic way of life? We must contact each of them with this demand: Either remove Trump from office or face defeat in the next election.
2
"Democrats too have made up their mind". There you have it, Mr Bruni, in your own words. You have just described the farce of the oath taking and of this impeachment. Anyone going against their party line will be labelled a traitor by their own party members,as has already happened to a Democratic Representative a short while ago. In a real trial, where the oath means something, maybe half will lean one way, half the other, as there are arguments both sides, as is clear from the partisan press and partisan pronouncements. But each half would itself be around half Republicans, half Democrats. That would be a genuine trial where the oath meant something and wasn't just a mumbled nothing, stifling conscience, and people genuinely looked at the arguments before making up their minds. The fact that Republicans and Democrats are staunchly taking a party line makes nonsense of the oaths and the trial. For goodness sake may this farce on the world stage end speedily. It is frankly disgusting to watch....
2
Doesn’t it nag at them even a little?
I think not; not for most of them. What nags at them is that they might lose anyway (see McSally). But the have gone down the hyper-partisan road so far they see the prize isn’t far off. Remember when the GOP refused to let Obama proceed unless he gave them a key, to them, demand? Obama did, and they changed their minds, suddenly didn’t want it. It was before Trump, The Enabler. The GOP wants only one thing. Power, perpetually, that makes everything to their whims and liking. And they’ll do anything to get it, including packing the SCOTUS with their own, ignoring laws and constitution, and lying constantly.
The United States of America isn’t very far from becoming a totally failed democracy. And it doesn’t nag at the GOP of today. That’s what they want!
3
Whether the day comes in early 2021 or four years later, it will nonetheless come. Trump will no longer be president. Assuming these Republicans are still in office, and that is likely the case, they will no doubt earn their keep trying to explain away their fealty to the returning Apprentice host. And that will be hard and embarrassing.
But here is the thing: it is difficult if not impossible to cede power, to give up a seat at the table of influence. That is what drives Graham and his cabal. None of these folk like or even agree with the president’s bombast and sophomoric behavior. Trump is merely a vehicle to some policy, the appointment of federal judges, and the preservation of power. Principle has little to do with it, and those naive folk who keep pointing out the GOP’s hypocrisy do little more than provide the footage for campaign videos, such as those put out by Senator McSally after her school-yard taunt of a CNN reporter.
Democrats, just win in November. Then we can begin to turn the page.
1
I understand perfectly why Republican Senators cower. If they lose this sweet, sweet gig, they would have to get actual jobs. But who would hire them? Most of them couldn't be trusted to drive a pizza-delivery car.
But here's my question: where is George W. Bush? It's time for the ex-President to stand up and say no more.
2
@K D P
Why would he? He is part of the "deep state" who created the Frankenstein in the White House. Tax cuts, "activist" neoconservative judiciary appointments and deregulation. Make no mistake, Paul Ryan, mcConnell,Rubio,Cruz,Cornyn, Bush and Cheney ,all cut from the same cloth.
1
Frank I know you are attempting to rationalize and criticize the behavior of these Senators, but you know, and you do know that there is no logical reasoning when it comes to Trump and his sycophants. I have been saying this for years, United States politicians and businessmen are no different than Putin and his oligarchs, they only thing distinguishing them is the American flag (ahem) on their lapels. It's greed, it's avarice, it's perpetuating their existence once they are elected. There are no rules to the game, it's all about winning. When they experience their first ride on the K Street Gravy Train, there's no turning back. Can we really blame the Base for jumping on the ConMan's bandwagon. Unfortunately, sheep follow. Once day when the Greatest Show on Earth is voted out of office, the Base and the GOP House and Senate will come up with another rationalization, until then let's Party like its 1984.
1
"...Republicans are bathed in Shame." They don't have to be. A vote for conviction elevates Pence to President. He nominates a female VP-who's going to vote no on America's first female VP? Then everyone goes back to "work", and Republicans have a much better chance on re-election 9-10 months later, even if the Pence/female VP ticket is defeated. A Democratic Administration, and a Republican controlled House/Senate wouldn't sound so bad to Mitch and the team, right? Oh, and a conviction prevents a Democratic administration from asking for foreign help in the future; all good! Democracy is saved. America is saved. Decency returns!
1
No Nation can or will survive such a calamitous presidency, divisiveness and events since 9/11 (random start line) when billions of public monies were given to dirty Wall Street criminals because "too big to fail" means business as usual. It all starts and ends with money, everything. Regardless of ALL analysis and attempts to rationalize politicians' motives and moralities, motivations spin around dollars. Given there is no post-life banishment to the pit of burning eternity, it truly is a free for all in politics and capitalism and any other political "ism". The common thread is money. Period. The end.
1
They are not only bathed in shame, but are pure evil, to the core. But they don't care in the least -- the only important thing is winning, and they cheat. Meanwhile, the Democrats play by some outdated set of rules and get rolled time and time again. While not ideal, the Dems should learn from this and do whatever it takes to win. It may not be polite to say the ends justify the means, but in this case they would, if it means the end of Republican tyranny and more enlightened governance. The problem is getting to that point -- can the Dems stomach the challenge?
Another great column by Frank Bruni, someone who is not afraid to speak truth to power. This article simply points out the hypocrisy and yes, lying and obfuscating, of what used to be the GOP. This party now needs to be burned down to the ground and totally rebuilt. Every GOP house member and senator up for re-election needs to be replaced; that's the only thing they understand -- loss of power and money.
"It's all political," intones Mitch McConnell. He's right. It is. Just as the impeachment of Bill Clinton was all political. "So what," as Trump has pronounced. The evidence, including the allegedly exonerating rough notes of a transcript, points to the actions of Trump as deeply corrupt, not just willing to commit unconstitutional acts but to hide the evidence in a secure computer system so none can know what was said and what Trump wanted from the fledgling head of a foreign government at war with its powerful neighbor. The response from the all politics all the time Republican party -- fingers plugging ears and "la la la la la, we can't hear you!"
2
It is small comfort but Faust always gets his due.
1
The fear of being attacked by Breitbart and Fox News is what drives many GOP members to keep silent. It really is a shame and dangerous for the integrity of our democracy.
I don't know if the GOP can overcome these dark forces which lead to self-censoring. Even when Trump leaves the White House, these dark forces of Breitbart and Fox News will remain and act as a muzzle on moderate GOP members.
3
These Republicans have no moral toughness. They’ve been captured by the idea that keeping their power and keeping their job are superior to keeping their sense of self respect and dignity.
Indeed, because the base they need to appease is so frightening, so devoid of decent human qualities, that they choose this path because of fear as much as self preservation.
Putin now looms over us all and only our own courage and perseverance will save us from this awful time.
3
Well said. But it falls on the deaf ears of the republicans in Congress. They are a truly sad lot who would be pitied if they did not know better. These republicans are not men or women. They are hollow shells of their former selves. We can expect nothing from them and therefore the chief hollow shell will be allowed to continue on his path of destruction. Our country is all the worse for these shells and one day, perhaps too late, this country will awaken to the disaster these republicans deliberately let go unchecked. One day the whole country will understand the honor of the democrats in Congress who are now fighting bravely for our democracy.
From the get-go of Trump's presidency Trump's lying has never been challenged to the degree it needed to be. Never.
Yes, never has his lying been examined as being specific to the glaring notion' This is the president of the United States we're talking about' and not something so blatantly facile as what we've witnessed from the very get-go of Trump's presidency, and very much falling under the rubric of 'Well. this is just Trump being Trump'.
1
This is very old news -that Republicans in Congress have no sense of shame. So why bother to try to elicit shame from them. Rhetorical shaming is an empty gesture or a sign of pathological naivete at this point. It is what it is. The only authentic question here is, What can the Democrats do to win over voters and unseat Republican members of Congress? How do we appeal to mainstream centrist voters and also get out the Democratic base? How do we win swing States like Michigan Wisconsin Pennsylvania and North Carolina? These are offered as different versions of the same question: how do we wrest power from corrupt Republicans and return our country to the rule of law?
1
Republicans put party over country every time. They have no conscience. They cannot even lay claim to a pretense of respect for the law, the facts, the Constitution, or the best interests of the nation. Theirs is a cold hearted political calculation, caring about nothing more than their next re-election campaign, when they fear a primary challenge if they stray from the party line.
Impeachment is serious business. A fair trial requires careful examination of all the relevant evidence, which Republicans go to great lengths to suppress and ignore. A fair trial requires that Senators objectively consider the evidence. Yet, Republicans gloat about how they've pre-judged the case & make it clear that they have already made up their minds- that Trump will be acquitted regardless of the ample evidence of serious wrongdoing.
After swearing an oath to be impartial, every GOP Senator has committed perjury. McConnell, Trump, & their GOP sycophants are destroying our democracy. They deserve to be decisively repudiated at the earliest opportunity.
1
This isn't about "politics", as if politics were a mere parlor game. It isn't about "political correctness", as if that phrase wasn't a dog-whistle for blanket discrimination. This is about standing up and pronouncing an oath - stating publically your beliefs and standards and morals and commitment. The GOP has infected what was once considered sacred and immutable with a relativism that is both appalling and deplorable. The consequences to our country and our freedom and our way of life are perilous, should this remain unchecked. To the Senators: your moment of destiny has arrived. Abide by the literal words of your oath.
1
I don't understand. Why was it so wrong for Hunter Biden to take a job he wasn't qualified for because he had no experience? I'm sure Hunter planned to learn on the job. How is that nay different than what Donald trump did? What political experience did trump have when he took over the most important job in the world? None, right? How is it OK for Trump to learn "on the job" as POTUS but not OK for Hunter Biden to learn on the job at Burisma?
1
Recently I saw the comment that, to paraphrase, “Democrat’s fall in love, Republicans fall in line”. I can see that today.
1
They do it to get re-elected. Get out of New York, guys, and see that it's not the people in Congress who are driving this; it's the people who sent them there. If any rep from a red state or district turned on Trump, they would suddenly face a primary challenger from the wacko right and get bounced out of office like a rubber ball. Then instead of a Republican like Lindsey Graham holding their nose and pretending to like Trump, you'd get a true believer. No moderate from either party can survive a primary these days when the parties have staked out extreme positions to keep their bases revved up. For all we know, McSally goes home and pukes her guts out after having to sell her soul, but the alternative is to pack your things and go find work. And politicians will always opt for winning elections over anything else.
1
The real test of a democracy is the willingness on the part of politicians to relinquish power as part of the democratic process. From the very beginning, Donald Trump would never admit the legitimacy of the democratic exercise, refusing to accept in advance a Clinton victory because the system was “rigged.” Now he has been caught trying to rig the system himself, with his “perfect” call to Zelensky. His excuse has been that he was concerned about “corruption”. And yet, just as the solemn farce of the impeachment process is starting, Trump wants to do away with the law forbidding American corporations to pay bribes in foreign countries. To him, not being able to rig the system by paying bribes is, to use one of his favorite adjectives, “unfair.”
2
Doesn’t the taking of this oath by certain Senators — in particular, McConnell and Graham — constitute perjury? Since they have already stated what their position will be? And why has no public or media entity asked this question? We sit by and watch these elected officials commit perjury, and no one calls it perjury? Wouldn’t the logical person to do that be Justice Roberts? For shame, Chief Justice Roberts!
I am a 73 year old New York who was around for Watergate and the Clintion saga. I honestly don't know whats happening to the U.S.A. especially in congress. If these things had been done by Hillary Clinton the Republicans whould have run her out of town last year. Trump will get off thanks to the senate. I guess most of us have to live with history judging these creeps in todays G.O.P. So very sad.
4
Is being in the Senate really that great of a gig? Some of the Senators truly believe Trump (hard as that may be to believe). But there are many who are supporting him solely because they are afraid that if they don't, they won't get re-elected.
Personally, I would not sell my soul to get re-elected. I would rather get voted out with my head held high. Most of these Senators are already very wealthy, so they really don't need the money, and they can probably make a lot more in the private sector anyway. It is amazing how many of these Senators who have been directly targeted and humiliated by Trump are now defending him. Have they no shame?
1
Just when one thinks that the bar of moral courage can't get any lower, surprise, trump always finds room for lowering it with plenty to spare. This is a guaranteed behavior of a man so sordid, corrupt and immoral. He entered the presidency with the blessings of the voter who thought this corrupt individual spoke their language.
Could it become any worse. Absolutely. Now we have elected members of congress, both the house and senate helping trump in lowering the bar of morality, joining their constituent base.
The return to a somewhat moral democracy falls once again to the American voter. The upcoming impeachment proceedings will in all probability result in no indictment so justice falls to each voter in the next election.
At this point, it simply make sense to establish an office of Prime Minister and write in vote McConnell into the position. Then he can rule alongside King Trump.
If he’s removed, he could run again. And he would probably win. And even if he didn’t, he would savage them all. That’s what they’re afraid of.
They’re betting that the easiest way out is to leave him alone and watch the clock. He’ll be done in Jan 2025.
This is the only way to explain why they don’t band together now and get him off their backs. If this were the second term, he’d be finished.
1
A typically one-sided piece in the Times. One can disagree with Trump, and believe the evidence which shows exactly what he did, and still not think this whole affair rises to the level of overturning an election. Yes, Trump’s conduct was improper. A high crime? Nah.
1
For someone who claims to be innocent and having made a perfect phone call, Trump sure acts guilty and behaves intrinsically flawed as a person.
3
Just keep writing, Frank. Just keep telling the truth. Someday, I pray sooner than later, the wall of corruption and lies and smear will break. Cruz and Rubio and Collins and McSally will fade into the background; better people will take their places. Then maybe we can solve some problems.
5
The Dems have not yet emerged from their feverish dream. They think Trump can be removed from office and then Pence, so that Pelosi can take over. That’s what all this is about, but it won’t happen in a million years.
1
My constant comment for the last few years is quite simple. What is the consequence of violation of Oath of Office? Or in this case a "Solemn Oath?" If indeed there is no shame, no consequence of wholesale prejudice against the truth, then why bother with the ceremony? Why the raising of the right hand, so help me God?
Quoting one of the most famous and apropos lines: "You can't handle the truth!"
Some will say the consequence is the wrath of the voters. That assumes so much.
If they don’t protect Trump he could threaten to take Pence down too. Then Nancy Pelosi would be President. The Republicans will never let that happen
1
Good summary of the most obvious dishonest GOP sellouts. Hopefully the vulnerable ones will lose their seats in their next elections.
1
"How in God’s name — and it was in God’s name — can the Republicans who have already decided to acquit President Trump take a solemn oath to administer 'impartial justice'?"
Those Republicans who consider themselves Christians have one Gospel: Prosperity Gospel.
1
I am not an especially religious or superstitious person, but when I take an oath or a vow or make a promise to God, I take it seriously. Why? Not because I worry about perjury laws or about social sanctions. I take seriously my oaths to God because I am afraid that God will strike me dead with a bolt of lightning if I don't.
1
What is a person for whom oaths are optional and mere distractions from the important work done to feather his or her own nest?
What is a person who can take God in vain and claim allegiance to Him while working ardently against the gospel?
What is a person who can enter into a contract whether civil or marital and violate it with abandon when it suits him or her?
Such a person is full and truly a Republican.
Senator Faustus, a Mr. Mephistopheles stopped by the Capitol looking for you and left his business card. He said he would be waiting for you outside the building when you leave this evening...
1
Make no mistake, the very idea of America, what it stands for, is at stake.
5
I never believed in the human soul until I met a man who didn't have one.
3
Maybe this is the thinking of the Republican Senators who plan to acquit Trump:
"If I can pretend to pledge to be an impartial judge, then it is O.K. if I pretend to uphold the Constitution. No one will notice the hypocrisy."
1
One keeps hoping there’s one Republican left who is a true honest patriot. And one keeps being disappointed.
1
Trump is stonewalling because he says it's to 'protect the Presidency.' That the same lame argument Nixon was using until the whole Watergate caper unwound.
Alan Dershowitz has been all over the airwaves claiming this impeachment is invalid because no specific crime was charged in the articles. Dershowitz appears to be alone among Constitutional scholars in this opinion, but that's what he will argue before the Senate.
I thought the House should have included bribery in the articles, and a strong argument could be made Trump blatantly thumbs his nose at the Emoluments Clause.
1
Oh, c'mon Frankie. And what happened in the House was a study in impartiality? Hack politicians of either party, and they are all hack politicians, are incapable of impartiality. Their thought process is around risk and reward relative to getting reelected, having influence and power, and in the end, becoming wealthier. Hack politicians will even switch parties when the winds are right to achieve some advantage. Flowery speeches involving mom, the flag and apple pie don't work on those perceptive enough to see through the smoke and fog of politics.
1
The simple answer? Power corrupts. No matter how idealistic a person may be, no matter how principled, when confronted to exist in an environment where the place is rife with corruption, incessant back scratching to gain experience and seniority, it is only the rare few who can resist the temptation. Some will profess allegiance to a higher authority (I'm looking at you, Mitt Romney), and the measure of their votes will show if their beliefs are real, or they are just a part of the same hypocrisy. Little wonder the rest of us are become so cynical of politics and politicians. But would we really act any differently, if our places were switched? We'd like to think so, but I wonder...
2
Never mind how they vote, every Republican Senator up for reelection should be forced to answer if they believe Trump's behavior with regard to Ukraine was appropriate.
3
Shame? They have moved too far into the morass to even know what that is. The only shame they can feel is when some Fox commentator chastises them for not gaslighting enough.
Because they understand their own criminal tendencies, Republicans are usually fans of harsh punishments as the best deterrent to future crimes. But in 1974, Jerry Ford pardoned Nixon for his attempts to tamper with our elections. Exhausted by Watergate, some us Nixon-hating Democrats felt that resignation was sufficient and nothing would be accomplished by pursuing criminal charges against Nixon. We were wrong. From Nixon to Reagan to Bush and now Trump, they have not learned their lesson about how a democracy should function.
And by the way, today it's not just Trump. "They were all in the loop." And every Republican who enables Trump is equally guilty and responsible.
3
The evidence of guilt, both circumstantial and direct, is overwhelming. The Senators named by Bruni will ignore it and claim that the crimes do not warrant conviction. Yet, if they truly believe that, then where are their actions to repeal those laws?
The answer is they lack the courage to do that and they want to retain those laws in the event a Democrat should be similarly charged. Then they will have the justification to convict.
Their hypocrisy and transparency is a national disgrace. They are like Joseph McCarthy. They have no sense of decency.
1
If the vote were anonymous, would the outcome be different?
2
I heard/read more than once of the dangerous setting a precedent with this Impeachment. Are the Republicans worried that many more Presidents will commit crimes to get or remain in Office?
Will Trump of any President or any office holder ever have to answer subpoenas again? Would that be a precedent?
Will not showing or feeling any shame now survive as unprecedented?
Will Our Nebraska Congressional Representatives start demanding course instruction for all High School Students on how to belittle, mock, shame, and lie?
2
There's an easy out for all of these Republican Senators that would shield them from what must be an intense, behind-the-scenes campaign to scare each and every one of them into lining up behind the President.
Change parties. They would be greeted with open arms by the Democrats, and history would remember them as heroes who saved the republic, not as cowards who betrayed their oath of office.
1
Everyone who disagrees with me, Frank, is craven and too biased to be a juror, and everyone who agrees with me is just reading the evidence? Simply stated: A crime is not charged, and the abuse is having a political motive for an official act. It is responsible for a Senator to conclude that removal for political motives would open the door on every president. Frank should spend more time thinking, and less insulting.
1
History will be cruel to GOP senators for putting their political needs ahead of the needs of the USA.
The "yapping lapdogs" sanction and promote a policy of stripping 3-year old children from their parents and losing them forever. Their actions support Russia beyond Joe McCarthy's wildest imagination of an anti-American.
These villains are given attention and respect because of the office they hold. That is a mistake. They should be addressed with the repulsion they have earned and questioned in terms of what further ignobility they are willing to inflict on America and their on their families, who will renounce them and be embarrassed by them for generations
I am bewildered that any of them wish to pay such a price when a small step toward standing for basic decency would so contrast them to their fellow party members and insure them an honorable place in history.
2
The opinion writer appears suprised by the Republican senators dishonest taking of the oath to render impartial justice in this impeachment trial. The sad and inconvenient truth is that America has always had a very difficult time with democracy. From the institution of African slavery to the theft of Native Americans’ land and their removal from it to the Sedition Act of 1918 to the financialization of our economy that led to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression to McCarthyism to J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, America has always made a mockery of the values it purports to hold dear.
1
Republicans care about winning alone, and at any cost. Simply put, conservatives are not very highly evolved. We must still need them, at some level, as a species. Their paranoia probably serves as a corrective to liberals' faith in people. But we have allowed these cavemen to bend the system till it breaks. All so they can cling to power beyond their time.
It's going to be okay in the long run. They are on the wrong side of history and evolution. But the long run may be 20 years, 200, or 2,000. Can America survive them?
2
The excellent new book about the Kushners and Trumps, “American Oligarchs” describes two family cultures that value “loyalty” over everything that is right, just, ethical, kind, or humane. Just like the mob.
Trump has found a way to create this exact culture in the Republican party. Most of us probably won’t live to read the definitive history book on it but it is helpful to understand what has happened, if we can’t accept why it has.
3
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is all you need to know about the Republican Senate. As much as it pains me to say so, if the cards were flipped the majority of Democrats would probably do the same. But then again, I can not imagine the Democrats ever electing such a person as Trump.
2
The Senate trial will be a sham. Most of the Republicans on the jury are willing to sell out their place in history and shame their descendants in return for winning the next election. I would have great confidence in the process if the jury were a panel of one hundred randomly chosen citizens
2
Cruz, Rubio and the whole gang of craven Republicans reminds me of the physical and political bravery of John McCain. It will be a long time before we we see a man of his like again, and Oh, don't we wish he was here now when we need him.
1
Power must be very lucrative for all to be fighting so hard to hold on to it. Have their tax returns and business investments been thoroughly examined?
4
Thank you Frank.
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.”
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
2
I have no respect for people who take an oath fully intending not to honor it.
4
If lying about a consensual sexual relationship qualifies as a "high crime or misdemeanor," certainly holding back promised tax-supported and legally authorized aid to a foreign country unless and until that foreign country investigates your political opponent should qualify as well.
The comments to this article so far fall into three categories:
Agreeing with Mr. Bruni (I'm one of these).
Saying that there's no evidence that Trump did any such thing. (It's hard to say that convincingly, given the accumulating evidence and testimony.)
Saying yes, Trump did it, but it's not a big deal. Given the history of the Clinton impeachment, these people are wrong.
4
Villains cannot be "bathed in shame". Wickedness is in their nature, and they cannot discern it; we have to live with our own ego; otherwise we would get insane. For the rest of us, their behavior is indeed horrendous. But their behavior is not contingent; it is an expression of their depravity and ignominious moral character. They are the result of "democracy", whereby the lower is supposed to determine the higher, which is a logical contradiction. But this is how Trump got to rule over the US.
2
In all my life, I have never seen a time period like this one, where elected officials are willing to give up all semblance of integrity to support the most despicable person ever to hold the Oval Office. When I was a young woman, starting in high school in the late 60’s, I saw what I thought was the worse 10-15 years that our country would ever face. Three good men gunned down in the 60’s for prompting equality for all. A misguided war, created and continued for years, knowing it was not a winning proposition. A rogue president, committing crime after crime to hold on until, finally, the GOP came to their senses at the 11th hour.
Truly, I thought that the worst of politics, of humanity, was behind us. I thought that I’d glide into retirement, put my marching shoes and protest signs away, see our first African American President and then our first woman president elected. Not so! I’m back out campaigning, marching, arguing with anyone who will listen.
Why? This is the worst of our country and citizenry, worse by far than anything I’ve described. We are in serious trouble and without all of us taking a stand, our democracy is at risk of never recouping. This will have catastrophic consequences, not for me, as I enter my twilight years, but for the rest of you..those of you just starting out, those of you beginning your families, those of you expecting a future where freedom is a given. So, get to work, no matter what happens with impeachment. Campaign, donate, fight!
1
I want someone to write a book about this incomprehensible phenomena once the phenomena ends. Of course it will. We don’t know when or how, but we Americans won’t put up with it for long. More of us, who are the majority now, need to get over the custom and culture of being the majority and turn to our black and brown neighbors and find out what they are all about. Too much ignorance on that one just breeds cruelty, the need or fear of seeing people as so much less than who they are. Patronizing our neighbors is ignorance too. Perhaps the Republicans in Congress are acting out because of the imminent and unavoidable loss of their majority white guy culture. (Where success is based on your net worth.) But we are all speculating. I want somebody to write the book. It’s some kind of torture watching this horrible acting out. The sooner we have some leaders who understand the fear factors behind despicable behavior, the better. There is more to this election than the “issues”. This war of Americans hating Americans has to end. How do we work towards that? I think it’s probably best if we elect a woman president. Angry bullheaded white guys need to get off the stage now. (Yes Bernie too) Let’s end the apparent suffering of the white guy majority desperately trying to stay in power, and get on with producing the constructive results of the messy disagreements and compromise that make the country a democracy. “Incremental change” (Obama)
First I read the Times' editorial on Putin's power grab. Then I read this article. So what's the difference between Moscow Mitch and Putin? All very chilling indeed. And by the way this is one of the best editorials I have read on the current venality of the Republican party!
3
This impeachment is like some weird castle intrigue in a Medieval history. We know the king will be acquitted. We know he is guilty and a cur. We know his followers are evil and cruel to the commoners. We know his closest advisors will commit any crime to protect him. All of the characters and action are in place and playing out in front of us. Where is Robin Hood to save the kingdom? What happened to all of the heroes?
1
If there's an upside to all this, it may be that the Republicans' machinations to ignore Trump's obvious crimes have revealed them to be low-caliber sheeple, unworthy to represent most of the people who voted to put them in office.
If there's any justice, their ludicrous defense of Trump will result in a big, brutal karma, beginning with the ousting from office everyone of those running to keep a seat in 2020. May the good citizens of Kentucky, South Carolina, Arizona and Maine please rid themselves (and the rest of us) of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Martha McSally and Susan Collins when they vote in November.
4
Well, it's interesting to watch the GOP, which never misses an opportunity to wrap itself in the Constitution, so faithfully ignore or distort it for the sake of some short-term gains. The more I watch this lamentable parade of hypocrisy play out, the more I am reminded of the phenomenon of sunk costs. The GOP is in for a pound. God help us all. And if Ted Cruz thinks his pathetically craven obsequiousness to a man who publicly insulted his wife and father and forever branded him "Lying Ted Cruz,"will smooth his way in 2024, well, the "smartest man in the Senate" should think again.
1
The Republican base has determined that this iteration of their party is better than the alternative - rule by filthy liberals. I add "filthy" there because decades of propaganda had turned the phrase liberal into something deeply perjorative. Conservatives spit the phrase as they would any other curse.
It's funny how so much of our national strife hinges on Russia. For fifty years after WWII American identity was tied to opposition to Soviet communism and expansionism. When the USSR crumbled our politicians attempted to give us another foil - Islam - but the Muslim world clearly isn't so powerful as to provide an existential threat.
Many Americans need to politically define themselves in opposition to something. But the world outside of our borders isn't scary enough anymore; the only real threat to America could come from within.
Cynical monied interests ("capital") have leveraged this insight via clear propaganda channels to demonize "liberals" - which now means anybody who doesn't kowtow to the tribal message. You're either with them or against them in a battle for the survival of the American soul.
It's all garbage of course; there are some mistakes in left wing America but the overall vision is vastly more appealing than what the hegemons offer. Even those who hate liberals agree with liberal policy until it's labeled as liberal. It's all sad.
We are entering a Trumpian dictatorship, supported by political sycophants and a military grown so conservative that I suspect it will turn on us. It's that simple.
1
Let's suppose that by some miracle of miracles, Trump is removed from office. What next? President Michael Pence? In what universe can we believe that he is as pure as the driven snow?
In truth, Trump has made sure that everyone is drawn into his criminal activities and no official has clean hands.
The Republican Senators are just the next level of those who have allowed themselves to become complicit in Trump's illegal actions.
It doesn't matter what Collins. Romney, Cruz and Rubio decide to do since the Republican Senators will still acquit Trump. I have absolutely no hope that they will suddenly grow a spine, so I'm going to work my heart out for the selection and election of the best Democratic 2020 candidate!
Throw the bums out and let's clean House and the Senate, too!
2
The only way for Democrats to take control of the Senate in November is for Republicans to continue acting the way they are. So I am grateful for this charade. As long as they take off a couple weeks for Mock Trial, they aren't doing any damage elsewhere.
It is hard to believe how far and wide the corruption of Trump has spread. Truly, it is Biblical in nature. I am always reminded of Jesus at the mountaintop tempted by Satan. Of course, Jesus cast the devil out. Our holier than thou Republican family value friends opened wide the door, passing out cigars and pouring hefty shifters of brandy.
It will be fascinating to see what history makes of our Profiles in Cowardice.
I am also reminded of the Salem witch trials. Our Republicans zombie walking and fear kow-towing to this current WH Occupant gives insight into the group think that turned heretofore sane people see hallucinations of evil all about them, burning young women and some men at the stake.
The problem is, if the sane remaining in our country cannot beat back this rising tide of insanity, we stand to lose 243 years of the great American Experiment.
That is no small thing.
This administration, this lawlessness and disregard for our Constitution and for basic human decency must be attacked on every level by every person everywhere.
Biden is right. I do not think we can survive as a democracy another four years of this assault.
Fear of Trump is the justification - of exactly what? His juvenile taunting? His puerile attacks on their spouses? He would be called out if any of these people had backbone. It’s extraordinary that small, war torn Ukraine is the country to be investigating possible surveillance of a US diplomat when the US State Dept shirked it’s duty and fired her at the instructions of Trump’s personal hit man -Giuliani. Which country is corrupt? Which country has integrity?
2
The legal experts can expound all they want about the procedural details of the impeachment “trial,” but what Mr Bruni is highlighting is far more important...the utter lack of moral and ethical standards of Senate Republicans. History will not be kind to them.
3
Obviously Republicans who support Trump have no moral bar low enough that they can't slither under it, and shame nor the sworn oaths they took will cause them to hold Trump accountable for the crimes and violations of office that, were he a Democrat, would have caused them to impeach and convict at record speed.
But they will not escape the long memory and conscience of history. Long after they've left office (one can only hope by impeachment!), and even after they've gone on to whatever awaits them after this life, their cowardice and betrayal to our nation will live on. Their families ought to remind them that it will be their offspring and descendants who will bear their failure of character and honor.
There is no "statute of limitations" on shame.
1
Yes, of course, Senate (and House) Republicans are shamed forever already. But it is past due to finally tell the whole truth, not just a partisan-slant version of it.
Congressional Democrats are part of the problem too:
-Senators needlessly running two years early for president: a 24-7 circus of soap opera sound-bites doing almost nothing effective to check the GOP wrecking ball.
-House of Representatives stalling until the very last minute, then finally impeaching, but on very narrow grounds, giving the president a pass on most of his crimes.
Trump is the most shameful and disastrous president in US history. Nearly all Congressional Republicans have been, as a group, his complete tools. Congressional Democrats have helped enable them.
Both of the two main political parties have massively failed America. No wonder the founders warned us against political parties.
1
The swearing was real? I thought it was a Monty Python skit.
3
GOP members of Congress have indeed sold their souls to the unfit and corrupt Trump.
In 1954, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch put this question to Joseph McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings: "Have you no sense of decency?"
That question could well be asked of GOP senators who swore an oath to be impartial before the Chief Justice knowing full well that was never their intention.
What I don’t understand is the fear that all these senators have of trump. If the majority of the Republican senators resist McConnell, or better yet, vote him out as majority leader and stand up to trump cause they know he’s toxic then they would be free of his threats and taunts because DJT would be GONE. So what if his base is upset? Someone needs to take a stand and do the right thing. If they ALL, or a majority of the GOP, stand together, by their numbers they can prevail. Where is the courage???????
1
I am gobsmacked over how the Republicans in Congress have morphed into servants of Trump. It is hard to fathom. Lindsey, Ted, Mark, Mitch, Kevin... the whole lot of them. It just doesn't make sense how conman Trump has conned them all under his wings.
I can only surmise that way back when both the DNC and the RNC emails were hacked, and only the DNC's emails were released, they are all being blackmailed into following their highly flawed leader. They must all be fearful of something huge. I mean, really, they can't all be so frightened of a tweet that they would have sold their souls as they have done. If they all stood up together, they could have reigned trump in, but nope. Something must be the cause. What is it?
1
Great column.
John McCain, an American hero and a stand-up guy ("No ma'am, I know Mr. Obama and he's a fine man . . . ") had to die so Ms. McSally could use that gift as an opportunity to desecrate and disrespect his seat with behavior unbecoming of a representative of the People.
The shamelessness of these Republicans is palpable, insufferable, and should be unacceptable to any self-respecting American.
1
The challenge with these columns always is how one-sided they are. Is anyone really surprised that politicians of all stripes say and do whatever they must to hold onto office? Corey Booker just ran for President right out of a career in the back pocket of Big Pharma, despite that healthcare costs are the number one issue for many voters (and has been for years). Warren runs on small donations and excoriates the rich after having raised tens of millions for years and years from those same rich donors. Schumer stands in the way of tax reform like a child insisting his bad behavior is no worse than his brother’s, and he’ll agree to eliminate scam tax rates for his Wall Street donors only after Cornyn et al do the same for their oil and gas constituents do the same. The problem isn’t that SOME politicians are corrupt and beholden to the worst of us. It’s that nearly all of them are. Making matters worse is when we when pretend only one side does it. For each McConnell you have, I’ll trade you a Menendez. It’s time we stop pretending only one side does it. This isn’t baseball and we root for Yankees and Mets. We root for America.
1
They all took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. It is obvious that oaths have no meaning to them. Especially the part where they invoke God. Faithless.
Having watched most of the House impeachment hearings, it seems that elected Republicans in congress, when faced with facts, retreat into a shared and reassuring mantra of Fox News denial and false outrage (e.g., the Democrats have been trying to impeach this president from day one...). Mr. Bruni has a wonderful way of pealing back this hypocrisy and shining a spotlight on individuals who have come to the proverbial fork in the road. Will their choice for posterity be integrity or capitulation to the party? The whole world is watching.
I don’t quite get how you can complain about the Senate being partisan when the House impeached on an entirely one-party vote. What’s the line about the goose and the gander?
Trump's sycophants may have made the wrong choice. My own theory is that anyone who does the dirty work of this devil eventually faces ruin. Here's a just partial roll call of those fools:
Michael Cohen - prison
Paul Manafort - prison
Chris Collins - prison
Michael Flynn - most likely prison
Roger Stone - most likely prison
Jeff Sessions - lost senate seat and political career
Rick Perry - lost senate seat and most likely political career
Mike Pence - political career was over when Trump drafted him as running mate and things will not improve for him
Mike Pompeo - senate career is over, political one is most likely over as well
Maybe, just maybe, this apparent awesome support of Trump that we see in the videos at his rallies and from Fox commentators is not really the sentiment of the masses (I can think of only one person that I know who is willing to admit their support of Trump) and we will see the results of that misguided political calculus on election day.
My prediction (and I predicted Trump's rise to the nomination in 2016 but not his victory) is that in November of 2020 we will see a lot of candidates who thinking that they had hitched their wagon to a star, wound up hitching it to a supernova that burned them to oblivion when it finally, and dramatically (like all things Trump), exploded.
2
the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice... however, just when that bend will become apparent is an open question. if we spend the next few centuries revering trump et al as our new founding fathers, our moral arc will seem nothing so much as a flat line.
Our only hope is John Roberts.
While I'm not knowledgeable in the various nuances of what he's supposed to do--something about following the rules of the Senate--he does have a brain, and a voice, and a presence, and arguably the most long lasting role in government.
For someone so rightly concerned about his legacy, doesn't he realize none of that matters beginning on Tuesday? His legacy will be defined by what he does during this trial.
Does he have the guts to disqualify McConnell? He may not, but surely he can, like his colleagues who write dissenting opinions, speak out.
Forcefully, passionately, convincingly. Yes Trump will trash him, but with a lifetime appointment, he's the ONLY ONE in that chamber who cannot be fired.
Please, Chief Justice Roberts, lead the way out of this horrible situation. I understand you can't direct a verdict, but use your position as Judge to run a fair trial, and to hold in contempt those who already have violated their oath.
The nation is counting on you.
2
Why are Republican senators the only ones called out on this article? What if Senator Manchin doesn't vote to convict? We expect senators to vote in ways that won't harm their reelection chances. Maybe that is all that is happening here?
2
These are the questions all of us ask, just less eloquently than Frank’s amazing-as-usual prose. These questions are as compellingly obvious as the answers are disturbingly ineffable.
2
"She has wagered that emulating Trump is her best bet."
They all have.
I sympathize with McSally. It was not easy to achieve what she has.
But she is conservative in the way of many military women.
She lost to Sinema and she will lose to Kelly, who can one-up her as a naval aviator and astronaut, the husband of Gabby Giffords no less.
Collins revealed herself when she fell into line--over the vociferous demands of her constituents--after a phone call from Dubya over the Kavanaugh nomination.
Cruz and Rubio have become minions, with Graham leading the way.
They have collectively lost their thinking caps and are cultivating expedient amnesia.
2
Basically a Trump’s legal team know what he did was illegal (as the government itself has concluded and as Bruni says anyone with a sane mind has recognized); they’ll argue it wasn’t but more strenuously argue it is irrelevant because impeachment is a political not a legal decision. They’ll boil it down to, this was OK because we’re on his side and he’s on ours and the only legitimate way that you can sanction action like this is through an election. If you accept this argument then it follows that impeachment can only occur when the Senate and the President are on opposite sides. At other times (as now) we live in a dictatorship and impeachment is a meaningless concept (Nancy Pelosi’s original and correct assessment). Ben Franklin was right but I don’t think he quite saw how we would lose it.
4
The oath our senators took and their predisposition to ignore the evidence reminds me of a student I caught plagiarizing on a term paper. When I reminded him that as a freshman he had signed an oath that he would not cheat, he responded, “Nobody takes that seriously. I didn’t even read it.” Cheating is considered business as usual today, even by some of our senators I would imagine.
6
McConnell and Graham should never have taken the oath, for it made them liars before the trial even begins. But it remains to be seen how "impartial" the rest of the GOP oath takers are. As for shame, the entire Republican Party began wallowing in it when it became a personality cult for Trump. I remember that cabinet meeting so long ago when one after another high-ranking member of the administration grovelled before Dear Leader, abasing themselves and thanking God for his exalted presence. It didn't help them any since most have since been fired.
6
New evidence of Cambridge Analytica’s interference and influence in our social media should be considered. It ruined Clinton. It is dividing our country. It influenced Brexit. It got Trump elected. Enough is enough.
7
They know that swearing an oath in front of any made up deity is just going through the motions. All that religious posturing is fake and just to get votes.
3
Power Corrupts: One’s Word Is One’s Bond . . . Rule of Law, Common Sense, and Decency No Longer Apply to the GOP.
2
I honestly can't understand the cravenness of Senate Republicans without imagining that they have been leveraged, either by bribes from donors or something shadier.
5
The Republican’s willful denial of clear & obvious facts and the significant amount of the general public following in lockstep with them has nearly driven me to distraction. My only solace is that maybe I’ll live long enough to see the history book’s account of this McCarthy like mass insanity. It surprises me that the worst among them aren’t considering this.
3
Frank, as they say in many places “Fogetaboudit”. There is no chance that the Republicans will change their minds. I would be surprised if any witnesses are called. They believe that with a speedy trial this will play to their benefit come November. Certainly Trump’s base and many other voters will consider the kangaroo court a vindication of Trump. So, the Dems have to treat this as purely political. Trump knows this. Why did he get Starr and Dershowitz? For TV ratings and sound bites. Justin Amash should have been one of the managers for the Dems. Prof Tribe from HARVARD should have been drafted as well. For anyone who thinks truth and justice will decide the 2020 election please see 2016. Dems better learn quickly how to fight harder and pick a winner.
How does one hit a home run in the wrong direction? Frank just did it, ask him.
1
The upside of the Trump Era is that the entire enterprise is shown to be crooked. From Trump's bumbling attempt to pay off mistresses and knock off opponents to the Democratic Leadership hit jobs on Bernie (2016 to today).
What is most disturbing is if we do get a President Bernie, Pelosi will impeach him in a couple of years. You don't get to be worth $300M on a government salary without having a few bodies to bury.
@Tom If you are suggesting that Nancy Pelosi is worth $300 million then let me point out that with a little simple research you can find the number is about $16 million - a big number, of course, but not unrealistic given her salary. Please try not to spread even more disinformation.
1
We are witnessing the Republican Senatore acting out a Transparent Veneer of fully knowing the truth but acquiting Because we can. Right in front of us on a daily basis.
I happened to be taking a tour of the Senate Chambers last October when our group was told to talk quietly because the honorable Senator McConnell was strategizing across the hallway about the pending impeachment process.
I wanted to scream as loud as I could to interrupt such nonsense. I think a great majority of the NYT readers want to scream as well. The Europeans and the Canadians ask "Why are you not marching to show your contempt of this President and his minions?".
Great question of which I have no response other than We, who understand right from wrong, have grown soft. What happens if He wins in November 2020. Will we kick ourselves for not being more active and forceful about needed change?
I challenge myself and All of You to work together starting NOW in defeating Him and his minions. It will take millions of small acts to re-educate and push back on those who either don't get it or don't want to get it.
Let's Win Back Our Democracy!
5
Based on historic precedent, presidential impeachment has become, by default, a "catch-and-release" exercise of political theater and chastisement, meant to shame rather than indict.
Too bad the defendant, in this case, is so shameless that he will wear his impeachment as a badge of honor.
2
One would and should expect more from those of any political party who hold office and those who support them. One would also expect the same, if not even more, from the immediate family of this current American president. Lara Trump's vicious and gratuitous ridiculing of Joe Biden's stutter last week sunk lower than a similar one from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Yet the latter at least offered a semi-sincere apology, while more of the same can be expected from the former. Just ask former stutterer and hero Captain Sully Sullenberger whose thoughts and experiences about the subject appear in today's NYT.
2
People don’t realize what’s at stake in the long term. If this very obvious criminal gets acquitted, then what? We don’t have a justice system anymore. We don’t have a democracy any more. And the country is ripe and vulnerable for someone to come in who is just as pathological, just as megalomaniacal and far, far more ruthless and smarter.
The Republicans are clearing an easy path for such a person.
For short term gains they are willing to subsume America and end the experiment in democracy.
8
Here’s another question: if Trump doesn’t have to obey any laws, why should any of us?
5
The oath should have been given to each senator individually, one at a time, and transmitted live.
4
The Republican Party is dead with Trump as president.
Perhaps we can return to George Washington’s ideal that we vote for the quality of the person for office above parties or factions.
1
“No one forced you”. That’s the crux of it: privilege. Entitlement. Possession. Status.
Certainly not Character. Not integrity. And not Honor.
Our Republican public servants in the House and Senate serve much more than Trump, but they believe that all their service is wrecked without him.
Oh, and “the Democrats are worse.”
These are the wages of partisan hatred.
I always find it interesting when people point to what other people did to defend what they or someone else did. By that kind of logic we should let all speeders go without a ticket because many people get away with it. Or, to an extreme, we should let a killer go free because some people get away with speeding. There is no doubt what Trump tried to do, no doubt. I can understand people wanting to defend him, but anyone who tries to tell me they don't think he asked a foreign government to start an investigation into Biden is either a fool or thinks me one.
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And don't forget Ohio senator Rob Portman, whose time in congress will be the first chapter in "Profiles in Spinelessness" if it is ever written.
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Bruni expresses what so many of us think - we are so darned tired of these republicans aiding and abetting trump and his cronies out of fear. Now is the time to step up.
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Every one of the US electorate must write to their Senators and tell them they will be judged in their next election by how they comply with their sworn oath.
This is not about politics, this is about keeping to an oath sworn before God.
The oath contains the phrase “So help me God” but that should be read “So help me, ...God”
One can only hope.
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The Republican Party is no more. It’s been replaced by the Trump Party, a cult of personality. How formerly decent people sold their souls to this uniquely indecent personality confounds me, but there it is. We need to stop waiting and hoping that any of them will cross their Dear Leader. They won’t. It’s up to the rest of us to vote them out on November 3. If we don’t, God help us.
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The answer to Mr. Bruni’s final question is an unequivocal “no!” The current configuration of the GOP doesn’t have any shame at all. To the contrary, this is exactly the form of government they want. The senate is merely a pitifully compliant and complicit body of government that stonewalls virtually all legislation.
Republican senators have usurped their power of governance in favor of a so-called president, who can now govern solely by tweet, executive order, or if necessary, by breaking the law. There may well be no consequences. A compromised DOJ considers Trump’s lawlessness as moot as does Mitch McConnell.
No, the GOP has no guilt at all. They need a white-controlled, authoritarian oligarchy. Pending the outcome of the election, they’re well on their way to succeeding. Putin must be pleased as punch.
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Unfortunately, Republicans are playing for keeps. They don't care in the least about our democracy; in fact, they would love to see it crushed. Their vision is a world dominated by the rich and powerful. Don Trump has caused the GOP to drop all pretense that really they are on the side of the little guy. It isn't true, folks.
So, no, there will be no Republican senators riding in on their white horse to save they day. Don will be acquitted in a Mitch-circus sham trial. Last chance to save democracy in the U.S. comes in November 2020. Get off the couch and vote for Democrats at every level of government.
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There is no chance that Trump will be found guilty no matter how the saner part of the electorate vilifies and laments the impending perjuries by the majority of the US Senate. Heck, there are little repercussions compared to the benefits of keeping Trump in office. 21st century politics has rendered them innocuous to such charges; moreover their supporters approve their mendacity and in their mirror they see only the satisfying smugness of a successful imposter. The best we can hope for is that a small but sufficient number of republicans approve the calling of witnesses and related material. This would clearly solidify the public case against Trump and be a powerful campaign weapon for the democrats in the elections.
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Republicans are not bathed in shame. At this stage of the game they have no feelings about themselves or the country.
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When Republicans took the oath to administer justice that was "impartial" they obviously read the word as "I'm partial."
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Now that the senators are sworn in, will their lying in the impeachment proceeding count as perjury?
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This article depresses me because is true. As an immigrant, who is now an American citizen, I fled corruption, lack of integrity and nastiness in politics in my birth country. I came for the "American dream" - not the American dream as the media phrases it - which is to make money here. I came with dreams of an honest Govt, dreams of having a disciplined life which comes from trusting one's public officials, came revering the American way of life.
Now I see that I merely exchanged one country for another that seems even more corrupt, morally bankrupt, and even more dangerous because the moral and political corruption is cloaked under a blanket of "patriotism" and the world is misled about America's morals. I now think an openly corrupt country is much better to live in because at least one knows what one can expect. Here in America, it is one rule for the masses and one for the privileged, while they keep tiredly repeating that "no one is above the law". If any ordinary citizen had done what Don Jr. had done - fraternized with the Russians during an election, he / she would have been thrown into jail. Don Jr. got away scot free. The press yelled about it for a while and then the Mueller report did nothing and he's home free thanks to his connection to the President of US.
When will they all stop their posturing and holier-than-thou pontifications? Stop saying Ukraine or other countries are corrupt!
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I wish that the media (all of it) would learn from the degraded 2016 election! Coverage of the Democratic debates devolves into Warren v Sanders, like a soap opera. "Will trump insult Nancy? What did Martha yell at the CNN guy, mean girl!" like a middle school cafeteria conversation.
In 2016, the Donnie/Hillary back and forth was covered breathlessly, and of course, Donnie loves to get nasty. At best, reporters go with the 'bothsides' lazy route.
As Mr. Bruni says, 'that would be equally upsetting but for the mountain of actual evidence on which their judgment rests.'
The articles of impeachment presented to the Senate rely on laws in the same constitution as existed when Bill Clinton was slapped down. No one changed the law to be mean to dearleader donnie. He broke the law, and did things strictly forbidden.
Not bothsides, not Democrats' opinions, not a question of motive. The actions of this president go against his oath, and he's also obstructed his nation's mandated investigation.
It's not bothsides.
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Just curious: in a criminal trial, if a juror has been deemed partial, they can be dismissed or a mistrial can be declared and a new jury is impaneled.
It seems, applying this model to a political trial, we already have a mistrial with the paneling of Moscow Mitch, Lapdog Lindsey, and the others who have publically stated they will vote to acquit regardless of evidence.
Can we impanel another jury without those partial, biased jurors?
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I see NO Republicans feeling ashamed. Otherwise they would be behaving differently.
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It does lead one to ponder, why? Why are they clinging to these office suites as if their very identity would vaporize should they no longer possess the keys? It can't be that they are passing landmark legislation, they are not. It can't be that they are guiding the country through a historic reckoning, they are not. If anything, they are passing on what truly is an existential threat that, were they to show leadership, would place them in the company of the founders, that threat being climate change.
So why do they acquiesce as if the very fiber of their humanity would disintegrate should they display a modicum of duty and consider these credible charges of abuse of power? Perhaps, like all scoundrels, they simply have no where else to go.
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In 2120 history books will describe how GOP senators were terrified by Trump's tweets and his rallies filled with the most horrifying pack of tragedy-munching hyenas and aspiring lynch mob members, they all voted to acquit him in his impeachment trial.
They will also show how the GOP-as a political party- unraveled after the humiliating defeats in November 2020.
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This is a fantastic column and I wonder all the same things. How can these Senators live with themselves? How can they lie under oath? Were they really that bad at their previous jobs? Are they so desperate to stay in office that they are willing to sell their souls? Why would they want to represent Trump's minions?
The brainwashing of the American public is one thing because most Americans don't pay attention and do not understand economics, law, and history. They are easy targets for FOX Opinion hosts. On the contrary, these Senators should be better. Either they have also been brainwashed by the conservative media and thinktanks or they truly are void of character and honesty.
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Let's compare Impeachments. Bill Clinton was impeached because he lied about having sex with someone other than his wife. Ken Starr (Yes the same one that is currently defending Donald Trump) for FOUR YEARS and that was the only charge he could come up with despite ruining the lives of many people on the periphery of the investigation. Donald Trump is being impeached for violating The Constitution of the United States of America. I guess this means that The Republican Party is against sex but for violating The Constitution.
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For republicans, the sins of Trump are not as important as their agendas. The wall, more conservative judges, abortion laws, the second amendment and of course fewer regulations and taxes. For this they are willing to sell their souls to the devil.
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They took the oath verbally and in writing. Assuming they have neither shame nor fear of God, what are the consequences for breaking that oath?
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As abhorrent as Trump may be these actions are not rising to the level needed for removal of a president from office. I believe he did withhold aid, so what? Many of these ridiculous laws are violated by parties on both sides of the aisle everyday.
If Ukraine is corrupt and giving American politicians benefits I want to know. And how bad is it that I would like to know how corrupt Mr Biden is before I vote for him?
Were you this critical of democrat senators during the Clinton trial? Probably not. It’s the game of politics.
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More accurately, they have no shame. It's all about staying in office.
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There are many, many people--both members of Congress as well as the general public--who do not see President Trump as guilty of anything. They feel, with a vehement conviction that goes right down to the core, that people like Adam Schiff have set-up and rammed-through a sham impeachment proceeding, which convinced no one except full-on President Trump haters who wanted him removed from Day One. Many of us look with profound admiration at Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Ted, Cruz, Rand Paul, and Martha McSally, for their integrity, courage, and spunk. So--NO--Republican Senators are actually bathed in outrage at the unfairness and lawlessness of this attempted takedown and feel no shame whatsoever!!!
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It is asphyxiating isn't it, but like chemists working with poisons a little everyday one's tolerance to that corruption, cowardice, and corrosion makes it seem like a living culture. Only to find that when returning to the sane world of ideas and progress the world has passed you by. One trick ponies get put out to pasture quickly.
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"Bathed in shame"? Republicans have no more sense of shame than a sense of honor or scruple. They want power, forever, and will do whatever it takes to get it. Period.
I might give them credit for their creativity in constructing a counter-narrative to Trump's manifest guilt. However, they know their base will believe anything (e.g., torture isn't torture, war crimes are no crime, liberals "made" them put toddlers in prison camps), so the bar is low.
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The honorable option for Republicans be they members of Congress, serving on the state level or just ordinary citizens is to register as Independents so as to show disapproval of the president and his minions. Any Republican who does not do this - regardless of category - is as bad as Trump.
Mr. Bruni, it is not just a matter of individuals rediscovering shame as a motivator. (I suspect that the last few brain cells that experience shame died in most Republicans some time ago).
As long as FOX and Sinclair have the crazies riled up and Facebook refuses to reign in political lies, a significant percentage of Americans will not hear, let alone react to, the truth. Our political future has as much to do with the venality of Murdoch, Zuckerberg and the Mercers as it does with the obvious moral defects in Senators who begin the impeachment trial by falsely swearing an oath.
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The Democrat’s case for impeachment has been made and the contents are public. Every Senator knew what the details were a month ago. Please stop with this hypocritical, sanctimonious nonsense. The House hearings were a rushed partisan circus with a gush of selective leaks from Adam Schiff. The Senate will be a partisan acquittal. Everyone knows this is how it will play out. The longer this goes on, the more helps Trump.
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The Trump Administration and the Republican Party are putting together the most massive coverup of malfeasance and criminality in American history. And they are doing it under the noses of the American people.
It is hard to believe that these Republican senators are willing to save Trump's bacon, no matter the evidence. Is any job, including being a member of Congress so important, so remunerative, such that one will completely prostitute one's honor to this disastrous president? In the end, in quiet moments, they will ruminate over their votes again and again, until they fade into history. These people will always be looked on askance, when this charade finally plays itself out.
This is not our best moment, as a nation. Our warts are out there to be seen by the world.
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So many articles and reader comments start from the premise that Senators are countering democracy and violating their oaths by taking Trump's side in any argument, particularly this impeachment trial. I really think our side has not done enough to accept and strategize against the underlying cause of this groupthink/Stockholm syndrome/mass hypnosis/extortion we think they are suffering from: their constituents WANT them to vote this way.
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Frank Bruni, are these Trump-zombies even listening to you? And if any of them are, does it make any sense to them? "According to a scholarly article in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, there is some indication that pathological liars believe their own lies to the extent of delusion. The claim remains controversial among psychiatrists. Pathological lying is also called mythomania or pseudologia fantastica." (reference.com)
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Thank you for singling out Marco Rubio of Florida, certainly the emptiest suit in the Senate. But let us not ignore Rick Scott, arguably the most corrupt politician in memory. He spent $71 million of his ill gained fortune on his campaign of lies. Certainly the worst governor of Florida in the 20th and 21st century, Scott doubled his wealth while two terms in office and his wife ran a "blind trust" to achieve those ends. Poor Florida two crooks in the Senate, and oh, don't even get stared on the The House. Home of the Red State Blues.
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The injuries that Senator McConnell has inflicted upon the legislative branch of the federal government, and against the U.S. constitution, are of epic proportions. McConnell and his cabal of depraved and cowardly Republicans have decided to enforce Trump's declaration that article 2 of the constitution means he can do "whatever he wants". The self-debasement of Senate Republicans is complete. They deserve no respect from others because they have no self-respect.
That is where we are in America. Those are stark, observable facts, only slightly edging in to opinion. I think the 2020 election may determine whether or not these wounds are fatal to America.
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"How can Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Martha McSally stand to look at themselves in the mirror?"
I think I've figured out their mortification-tolerance. They are all criminals themselves, with Rubio and Cruz hoping to become the next head of the crime family, competing with Trump for that . They lost, and suddenly kissed his ring and swore total fealty to him. What is surprising about that?
They probably weren't so much angry about Trump's tactics against them, so much as they respected the cleverness and vile effectiveness. Thinking about it this way, it suddenly makes sense to me.
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Wow. Some folks have Really short memories. Others thankfully do not. Those of who do manage to hold onto things for more than a few weeks have not forgotten the Kavanaugh Smear. The seriousness of the charge and the shamelessness of the Left in bringing it. Comment won't appear but doesn't change the truth of it so censor away.
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Trump's crime of attempted bribery stands regardless of GOP folly.
Our Ukrainian allies were dying as Trump tried to bargain lives away.
THIS is what the GOP defends?
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Republicans will tell you they are firm on concepts like "law and order" and "morality." They will also tell you they firmly believe in the Constitution - and are, therefore, against things like Kings and dictators.
But it is now completely, perfectly clear that the ONLY THING that Republicans firmly, passionately believe in is that they alone should be telling everyone else how to behave, dress, worship, etc. while being immune to laws or morals.
Like every rotten parent who rules their homes with a 'do as I say, not as I do' ethic, they are shamelessly, despicably rotten.
And any Dem candidate that believes they will have an "epiphany" and "become reasonable" should be immediately disqualified from consideration. There is so much clean-up needed to return to 1st World status and it can't wait for some miraculous change of heart by the very people who have been tirelessly converting us to a banana republic.
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