Republican Senators willful blindness to the glaring facts that demonstrate Trump's abuse of power and clear obstruction of Congress is not so much a cover-up, as it is a blatant betrayal.
To call the Republican Senators dismissal of the President's impeachable offenses a "cover-up" is really a misnomer.
Our elected Republican representatives - abetted by theatrical, deceptive White House counsel, obstructed justice by any disingenuous means available -- in the light of day and right in front of our face.
Our Founding Fathers obviously imagined a future President of the United States abusing his power to such a degree that it demand impeachment.
What the Founders didn't foresee, was an entire political party of legislators abandoning their oath to uphold The Constitution of the United States and selling their souls to protect a tyrannical cult leader posing as President.
"If you find that the House has proved its case and still find to acquit, your name will be tied to (Trump's) with chords of steel and for all of history," berated lead Democratic House manager Adam Schiff on Monday.
So far a handful of Republican Senators -- Lamar Alexander (Tennessee), Marco Rubio, (Fla.) and Rob Portman, Ohio, have indicated that the House indeed had proved it's case -- that Trump pressured Ukraine to help him cheat in the 2020 elections by withholding nearly $400 million in vital, Congress-approved military aid.
But those Senators essentially have said "So, what?" Trump's offenses don't warrant impeachment.
Now that it's okay for the president of the United States to shake down a foreign government for political favors how much further will American democracy backslide?
"You may be asking, how much damage can (Trump) he really do in the next several months until the election? A lot. A lot of damage,” said Schiff in his mpeachment trial arguments. “This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters and truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.”
Senate Republicans blocking witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, on their speedy way to acquitt the President come Wednesday, will have some explaining to do for some time to come.
How can a legislative body, charged with conducting a fair trial and purportedly following impeachment precedent, deny key witnesses -- like former National Security Advisor John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney -- who were figuratively begging to be heard from?
All 15 of the nation's past Senate impeachment trials since 1804 -- mostly judges and a few presidents -- heard from witnesses.
What's a trial without witnesses? A sham.
And exactly why is Chief Justice John Roberts presiding over the impeachment trial if he's going to play the role of a stuffed shirt while our Constitution, rule of law is eviscerated?
Democratic House managers did a masterful job presenting damning testimonial evidence interspersed with video clips of testimony from most of the 17 government witnesses who appeared before the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings in December.
Many of the witnesses in the House proceedings were long- serving Republican U.S. government officials. Some were even Trump appointees.
But White House counsel, led by Pat Cippione, Jay Sekulow and Ken Starr didn't want to hear the damning evidence against Trump, which nailed down the incriminating details surrouding Trump's July 25, 2019 shakedown phone call with the Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelinsky.
They pathetically argued that House Democrats impeached the President simply because they "don't like" Trump, reducing the President's trial to a mere popularity contest.
Hence, there's no grounds for impeachment here. It's a simplistic, child-like argument our thin-skinned, narcissistic President might make.
Cippione and Sekulow persistently sent up smoke screens, distracting from the facts and challenging the legitimacy of the House's impeachment procedures -- while fear mongering a "partisan impeachment."
But, who are they to accuse the other side of partisanship? That's so Trumpian.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in effect, declared the President "not guilty" through his professed allegiance to Trump, weeks before the Trump's Senate impeachment trial gaveled to order.
"Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel,” said McConnell in mid December, shortly after the House voted to impeach President Trump. “There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.”
Meanwhile, President Trump is emboldened to stretch the boundaries of decency, truth and justice that much further in the same way he does at his "Keep America Great" rallies.
Thousands flocked to the boardwalk town of Wildwood, NJ, in the dead of winter this past week to experience Trump's mind-numbing "Reality TV" schtick.
The 7,500-seat capacity Wildwood Convention Center Convention was packed and thousands gathered outside to watch the President on a Jumbotron TV.
Wildwood is in my neck of the woods. So, I was among the rally goers outside the center to witness the spectacle.
Predictably, the President lied about crowd sizes, embellished job numbers and incited anger toward Democrats, The Press and anything he perceives as a threat to expose his swindling of the American Republic.
And the crowds loved it. Truth is fast becoming obsolete in the theatre of American Republican politics.
It seriously makes you wonder if in Trump's alternate universe, in which so many Americans seems to live, is there anything this brazen, crude and divisive President can do wrong?
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