Closing arguments were given in the Senate on Tuesday.
Frum: “Yet the impeachment process has achieved something. It has removed deniability from the Republicans. They were enablers; now they are accomplices. They are all Carmela Soprano in the classic scene with the psychiatrist who speaks the truth about her criminal husband: “One thing you can never say: that you haven’t been told.” The Republican Party as an institution has utterly merged itself into the Trump cover-up machine, and there is no escape for any of them.”
Peter Wehner: “what they don’t tell themselves, probably because it would be too psychologically shattering, is that they have become fully complicit in a corrupt enterprise called the Trump presidency. (Romney is the rare exception.)”
Wittes critiques arguments made by senators Alexander and Rubio for why they voted not to have witnesses: “…would be a more compelling argument if Rubio proposed to deploy any of the “multiple ways … to constrain” the president to which he refers. But he does not…. Indeed, Rubio’s position is not that it is the voters, not senators, who should depose Trump and that he will thus campaign against Trump in Florida. And while Alexander likewise argued on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “the people” are the appropriate remedy for Trump’s behavior, he also does not propose to avail himself of that remedy. Both men support Trump’s reelection, meaning that they actively oppose the use of the remedy they suggest as the alternative to removal by impeachment—which is to say that they do, in fact, oppose accountability for what Trump did.”
Here is audio from the last day of arguments. You can also listen to audio from all the previous days of the trial on this podcast.
Trump gave his State of the Union Tuesday evening.
Trump was acquitted on Wednesday afternoon. All Democrats voted for both impeachment articles, and Mitt Romney voted for the abuse of power article.
Here is the text of Romney’s speech. Koppins was granted an interview with Romney on the day before the vote: “I found Romney filled with what seemed like righteous indignation about the president’s misconduct—quoting hymns and scripture, expressing dismay at his party, and bracing for the political backlash.”
Then on Friday, Trump fired Vindman and his twin brother from the National Security Council, and Sondland: “President Trump wasted little time on Friday opening a campaign of retribution against those he blames for his impeachment, firing two of the most prominent witnesses in the House inquiry against him barely 48 hours after being acquitted by the Senate.”
A Clevland-based pastor Darrel Scott, one of Trump’s prominent black supporters, is running a sham charity organization called Urban Revitalization Coalition. Its purpose is to hold Trump events in black cities and give out cash prizes of $300-$500 to black residents in hope it will sway them to vote for Trump. The effort is intended to decrease the Democrat vote total from urban areas: “The group’s “Christmas Extravaganza” event in Cleveland last month featured a $25,000 giveaway and an appearance by Ja’Ron Smith, a deputy assistant to the president. A Cleveland native who worked on Trump’s criminal justice reform, Smith is among the highest-ranking black officials in the White House.”
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Trump’s Job Approval: 43.8%