If there is any secret to Trump's success, it is to drag everything down to his level so that he makes you wallow in his own mud. This is certainly the case with the latest memebers he has selected for his defense team. Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr are reality show attorneys, who capitalized on their notoriety on Fox. I'm surprised he didn't add Jeanine Pirro. Trump is hoping to make this trial into one big ugly episode of Celebrity Apprentice, where viewers take sides based on their ideological bent, much like the infamous OJ Simpson murder trial and Clinton impeachment trial, which Dershowitz and Starr were part of.
This is a far cry from the way Alexander Hamilton saw the Senate trial. In Article 65 of the Federalist Papers, he saw the Senate as the final authority on the articles of impeachment. He imagined the upper legislative branch as a House of Lords able to render an impartial verdict on the charges levied by the House of Representatives, which he regarded as a very partial branch of government, driven by political biases. He expected the articles of impeachment to be political in nature, as there was less burden of proof. In the Senate, there should be a greater burden of proof.
But, this isn't what Trump's defense team is suggesting. They are trying to make the case that there is no burden of proof in the articles of impeachment, and that they should be dismissed entirely. Hence, absolving him of any charges. That's not what happened with Bill Clinton or Andrew Johnson long before him. Both retained the permanent stain of impeachment, as Nancy Pelosi made perfect clear in her press conference after submitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
The problem with Hamilton's argument is that it never worked in reality. The Senate proved to be just as partisan legislative branch as the House of Representatives, even when its members were selected by state appointment. It was made even worse during the Congressional battles over slavery, with Preston Brooks caning Charles Sumner, after he denounced the infamous Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1856. It was considered the "breakdown of reasoned discourse," and nearly cost Sumner his life. Ultimately, it led to the Civil War.
Holding a trial in the Supreme Court wouldn't work as well for the reasons Hamilton enumerated in the Federal Papers. There really is no way to avoid the POLITICAL, as Hamilton wrote in all caps, as "the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strengths of the parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt."
With the House and Senate divided politically, and a two-thirds vote required to approve impeachment, it is highly unlikely that Trump will be removed from office. Democrats would have to convince no less than 20 Republicans to join them in supporting the articles of impeachment. What thy are hoping for is a fair trial and that enough Republicans will join them in calling for more witnesses and testimony regarding Trump's abuse of power. So far, that hasn't happened.
Trump is not satisfied with simply and up and down vote on the articles of impeachment. He wants this stain permanently removed from his presidency. This in itself illustrates the autocratic nature of his regime. From day one, he has never been willing to abide by the code of conduct of his executive branch. He has wanted to rule the country as a chief executive officer, unbound by any oversight from the legislative branch. This not only shows his horrible understanding of the Constitution but how a corporation works.
Even a corporation has a board that is provides oversight of the CEO, and has been known to fire its Chief Executive Officer from time to time. 2019 saw 19 CEOS either fired or forced to resign because of misconduct or poor management. A CEO can challenge the decision in court, but it only gets more ugly, as the burden of proof generally falls upon him or her to defend his or her record.
There were any number of charges the House could have heard against Donald Trump. His administration has been riddled with misconduct and poor management that has led to an unprecedented number of resignations and indictments over the past three years. Most of these missteps and crimes were done to benefit him personally, as the Mueller Report made clear. The chief investigative officer outlined 10 cases for obstruction of justice, all of which were impeachable, but Nancy Pelosi chose not to act upon them, fearing an impeachment inquiry would descend into a partisan blood bath, given how Trump had so deeply personalized the Mueller Report and demonized his opposition.
Her party was none to happy with this decision. Many new Democratic representatives had been elected on the platform of holding Trump accountable to the Constitution, which they felt the Republican Party had failed to do when it controlled the House of Representatives. So, when yet another case presented itself last summer in Trump's "perfect call" with newly elected Ukrainian President Zelensky, they jumped on it and Pelosi had no choice but to launch an impeachment inquiry.
The case is so compelling because so many persons have come forward with accounts that corroborate the original whistleblower's report. You can't chalk this up to incompetence, as Dick Shelby and other Republican Senators have opined. This was a concerted effort by the Trump administration to get the Ukrainian president to reopen an investigation into Hunter Biden's role in the troubled Burisma energy company, in a transparent effort to implicate his father Joe Biden, who is running for president.
It is as concrete a case of abuse of power as one can find. Not only did the Trump administration make the effort to extort the new Ukrainian government into launching this investigation by withholding military aid, but it sought to undermine high-ranking state department officials opposed to the idea, namely Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who was subsequently recalled by President Trump. It was all part of a smear campaign orchestrated by Rudy Giuliani, acting outside the White House, but in direct communication with officials in the White House.
Unable to extradite himself from the burden of proof that has been presented, Trump now tries to make the case there was nothing illegal in what he did. Others have done it before, citing Biden himself who he believes similarly strong-armed the Ukrainian government in ousting a prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who had refused to prosecute extraordinary corruption cases. Even if we entertain this notion that Biden used his influence to pressure Ukraine, he did so not for his own benefit but for that of the United States' relationship with Ukraine. Shokin was clearly corrupt, and subsequently dismissed, soon to find himself being approached by the Giuliani thugs for dirt on Biden.
Trump hopes he can drag everyone into his chaotic alternative reality, so that all the thin lines become blurred and no one can distinguish between right and wrong anymore. His cynical view of the world is much like that one sees on television crime dramas, particularly those relating to crime mobs. Trump wants us to view him like Tony Soprano, a man of dubious character but just trying to provide for his family, or in Trump's case the country.
Our President has surrounded himself with two-bit thugs and other miscreants, who would have never been considered for any high-level government job, let alone a job in the White House, but here they all are with security clearances personally provided by Trump. One can only imagine the free flow of classified information going out of the White House, which in many cases Trump has provided himself, feeling it is his right to do so.
Gone is anyone who can hold him in line. All his top generals resigned or have been indicted. His previous Secretary of State was notified on twitter of his dismissal. He has gone through a slough of communication directors and press secretaries, all essentially suffering burnout after the many lies they had tell on Trump's behalf to the public. He even lost his Homeland Security Director, Kirstjen Nielsen, who refused to carry out his illegal border policy after his notorious family separation policy and child detentions were revealed. Yet another impeachable act.
What Trump is left with is a bunch of sycophants like Bill Barr, Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pompeo, who will literally carry out his wishes no matter how contentious or ill-advised they are. Not surprising all three are at the center of this Ukrainian extortion racket, having been named by two-bit thugs on the ground, and verified through e-mail records.
I don't think Alexander Hamilton would have any problem seeing Donald Trump put on trial for abuse of office. Only problem is that we have a Senate literally split down the middle as to the President's culpability in these high crimes and misdemeanors, with a conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice presiding over the trial. There's literally zero chance a fair trial will take place since Republican senators are on record as saying they think it is a sham. In their minds, this impeachment should have never taken place.
This isn't how the system works. Regardless of what you think about the Articles of Impeachment, it is the Senate's duty to hear the case that has been brought against Donald J. Trump and render a decision accordingly.
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