A Fake Impeachment Trial

Susan Glasser: “The trial was more fake than even the disinterested public could have anticipated—the first impeachment trial in the Senate’s history not to call a single witness.”

“Its end is a relief. At least we will not have to hear any more bogus speeches about the Founding Fathers or pabulum about the sanctity of the process. We are spared the faux horror of Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who chided Congress for its abdication of responsibility but didn’t want to hear the former national-security adviser John Bolton testify under oath about grave wrongdoing by the President. We are saved from the absurd rationalizations of Maine’s Susan Collins and Ohio’s Rob Portman, who reproved the President for his ‘wrong’ and ‘inappropriate’ conduct but insisted that Trump had learned his lessons and should not face any consequences. This, along with Romney’s last-minute declaration exposing their hollow pretense, is what passed for suspense in the trial.”

“But it was all misleading, a distraction, as pointless as their votes turned out to be.”