I'm mad witnesses apparently would not have changed the outcome. I'm mad that the impeachment process proved itself to be useless, start to finish. To proceed with almost half of the "jury" claiming impeachment of a past President cannot be done, without insisting they must proceed under the assumption he can be impeached, is ridiculous. To allow blatant lying by the defense lawyers? It's a sham. We should either discard our impeachment process altogether or change it. It's ineffective. I'm mad that he can get away with inciting an insurrection and the GOP will not hold him accountable, no matter what. While it would be good to have witness testimony on record, I think it would only be useful to those who were really paying attention. Those people already saw how clear it was that Trump had incited the insurrection and then sat back and allowed it to happen without a response for hours. And then he followed up by telling the insurrectionists he loved them. We see he should be held accountable. However, another narrative, filled with sound bites from the defense lawyers' video, is flowing thru conservative sources to Trump supporter ears. Witnesses or not, the people who need to hear the truth aren't getting it. They continue to receive the warped storyline that Trump and his cronies want them to hear. I'm mad truth doesn't matter to a lot of people. I'm mad the House Managers only had this flawed process, that should be in place to protect us, but in the end was controlled by the accused. We are left unprotected from this happening again. Lots of mad here, too.
I think that's exactly what the Democrats figured: We all saw it, and when so many "jurors" had already decided the outcome already thought the process was wrong, well...On the other hand, changing the impeachment process wouldn't be that hard. It's pretty vague, as outlined in the Constitution. That's a good thing, until things get political -- which is always. I read everything I could get my hands on Saturday and Sunday about why this decision was made (not calling witnesses) and one quote from a Democratic Senator was actually (paraphrased here), "Hey, let's get this done; everyone wants to be home for Valentine's." Was that to have time to put the tree up? What?
Right? I guess that says something about the value of Impeachment. It certainly isn't doing what I thought it would do to protect our country. I do get that when evidence really - bottom line - does not matter in the Impeachment process, the time comes when we stop adding more of it and save it for the place where it will have effect. It'll matter in the court room. Impeachment is a let down. However, I have faith justice will come in the court room where lying has consequences. But dammit, Impeachment! Why can't you be better than this?
Exactly: the defense attorneys should be imprisoned for contempt of Congress for lying; the Senators who demonstrably ignored the bodycam, police radio, embedded media and insurgent audio and video evidence enhanced with maps, diagrams and timelines - on top of what they had personally experienced - should be publicly chastised by leadership from both sides of the aisle; and those Senator/Jurors who huddled with the defense attorneys and helped them to formulate their closing arguments should themselves be impeached for violating both their oath of impartiality and the one they took when sworn in: "I, Josh Hawley, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
I'm mad witnesses apparently would not have changed the outcome. I'm mad that the impeachment process proved itself to be useless, start to finish. To proceed with almost half of the "jury" claiming impeachment of a past President cannot be done, without insisting they must proceed under the assumption he can be impeached, is ridiculous. To allow blatant lying by the defense lawyers? It's a sham. We should either discard our impeachment process altogether or change it. It's ineffective. I'm mad that he can get away with inciting an insurrection and the GOP will not hold him accountable, no matter what. While it would be good to have witness testimony on record, I think it would only be useful to those who were really paying attention. Those people already saw how clear it was that Trump had incited the insurrection and then sat back and allowed it to happen without a response for hours. And then he followed up by telling the insurrectionists he loved them. We see he should be held accountable. However, another narrative, filled with sound bites from the defense lawyers' video, is flowing thru conservative sources to Trump supporter ears. Witnesses or not, the people who need to hear the truth aren't getting it. They continue to receive the warped storyline that Trump and his cronies want them to hear. I'm mad truth doesn't matter to a lot of people. I'm mad the House Managers only had this flawed process, that should be in place to protect us, but in the end was controlled by the accused. We are left unprotected from this happening again. Lots of mad here, too.
I think that's exactly what the Democrats figured: We all saw it, and when so many "jurors" had already decided the outcome already thought the process was wrong, well...On the other hand, changing the impeachment process wouldn't be that hard. It's pretty vague, as outlined in the Constitution. That's a good thing, until things get political -- which is always. I read everything I could get my hands on Saturday and Sunday about why this decision was made (not calling witnesses) and one quote from a Democratic Senator was actually (paraphrased here), "Hey, let's get this done; everyone wants to be home for Valentine's." Was that to have time to put the tree up? What?
Right? I guess that says something about the value of Impeachment. It certainly isn't doing what I thought it would do to protect our country. I do get that when evidence really - bottom line - does not matter in the Impeachment process, the time comes when we stop adding more of it and save it for the place where it will have effect. It'll matter in the court room. Impeachment is a let down. However, I have faith justice will come in the court room where lying has consequences. But dammit, Impeachment! Why can't you be better than this?
What YOU said.
Exactly: the defense attorneys should be imprisoned for contempt of Congress for lying; the Senators who demonstrably ignored the bodycam, police radio, embedded media and insurgent audio and video evidence enhanced with maps, diagrams and timelines - on top of what they had personally experienced - should be publicly chastised by leadership from both sides of the aisle; and those Senator/Jurors who huddled with the defense attorneys and helped them to formulate their closing arguments should themselves be impeached for violating both their oath of impartiality and the one they took when sworn in: "I, Josh Hawley, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
The whole "impeachment trials aren't court trials" just absolutely doesn't cut it with me. I'll be mad for a while.