An Impeachment Ends in Farce

It appears the trial to remove Donald Trump will effectively conclude today with all the elements of familiar kabuki we anticipated. The three moderate Senators have effectively inoculated themselves by performative opposition to Trump that amounts to nothing. It’s the classic move of supporting a party without having to take the heat for doing so. The media breathlessly played along, laundering the con brilliantly.

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team—honestly, what a bunch of clowns—argued that anything Trump does to get re-elected is fine, since doing so is in service of the public interest. Their “defense” amounted to little more than a re-enactment of Trump tweets. 

It is increasingly unthinkable the GOP will let anyone take the stand with actual knowledge of the case, even if they could somehow rig a deal to smear Trump’s rival in the deal. At this point, Dems shouldn’t fight too hard. It’s been a show trial from the start, one so ham-handed and unconvincing most despots would have been embarrassed. Letting it continue will only give it the veneer of legitimacy.

Better that history see this spectacle in its starkest terms: a corrupt president caught rigging an election with the help of a foreign government, and a party completely unconflicted about letting it happen. It’s a disgrace, a humiliating fall for a country so recently full of arrogance about its “exceptionalism,” and the whole tawdry affair needs to stand as a permanent stain to remind us just how imperfect the union still is.