How Trump Beat the Rap

John Harris: “President Trump is acquitted, but the consensus view — shared by nearly all Democrats and even a decent number of Republicans — is that the United States Senate did nothing to acquit itself. Wednesday’s vote — anticipated with near-perfect precision since the opening hours of the Ukraine scandal in September — has yielded a new indictment: The partisan divisions that saved Trump are an expression of deeper and malignant trends that are a threat to constitutional democracy.”

“By all means count me in for mournful sermons about the poor civic hygiene of America in the Age of Trump. The patient is indeed sick. But it is not because the pulse of democracy is growing faint. To the contrary, the fundamental problem of modern political culture is the erosion of accountability. Politicians have shown repeatedly the ability to escape consequences by reframing almost any controversy away from the particulars of misbehavior to the familiar question: Which side are you on, mine or my enemies?”