I’m not following the trial closely, mostly out of disgust, but I found these clips from Rep. Schiff compelling:
SCHIFF: "Whether we can say it publicly, we all know what we're dealing with here with this president. Donald Trump chose Rudy Giuliani over his own intelligence agencies… that makes him dangerous… why would anyone in their right mind believe Giuliani over Christopher Wray?" pic.twitter.com/XXJOcHgxhE
SCHIFF: "Let's say [Russia] starts blatantly interfering in our election again to help Trump. Can you have the least bit of confidence he'll stand up & protect our national interest over his own? You know you can't, which makes him dangerous to this country. You know you can't." pic.twitter.com/g90RfL6VID
Senator Lamar Alexander, who I believe is a decisive vote for hearing witnesses, explains why he’s voting against it in the thread below:
But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate. 7/15
He mentions that the people can decide if what Trump did is inappropriate or not. But what if Trump keeps behaving in “inappropriate” ways and that gives him an “inappropriate” advantage in the upcoming election? What if he and the Republicans do even more “inappropriate” things, like not protect the elections adequately, calling into question the results if they go against Trump, or even suspending the election because of this?
Reading some of the news now, one reaction I had–and I’m hope I’m just being hysterical–is that the Republicans are going all in on an authoritarian approach. (McConnell not allowing a vote on a bill to give money to states to secure elections was another indication of this.) I feel really uneasy right now.
Maybe it’s just as well the Senate didn’t save us, and we will have to depend on ourselves to do so in November. “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly…it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” —Thomas Paine
The assumption here is that Trump won’t do anything to really undermine the legitimacy of the elections. If you could guarantee this wasn’t going to happen, acquitting the President, while awful, wouldn’t leave me feeling nearly as low.
I’m thinking along the lines of Alene and McMullin:
Alexander says, even if Trump did what they say he did, we shouldn’t hear more evidence because the vote on articles of impeachment wasn’t bipartisan. So we should just let the people vote. He seems to have missed the whole part about the president tampering with the election. https://t.co/usI0eqqGaA
Senator, you’ve severely underestimated the threat posed by the president’s abuse of power, which you agree has been proven. Shall we simply depend on another election to hold accountable a president with a track record of election cheating? What will stop him now, Senator? https://t.co/u7rON2I2GV
Senator Mitt Romney explaining his vote on removal. In my opinion, history will remember him well.
One thing that stood out for me–Romney chokes up early on when mentions taking an oath to God and how he’s very religious. I thought he was genuine, and I found this moving. I respect what he did.
I’m not following the trial closely, mostly out of disgust, but I found these clips from Rep. Schiff compelling:
I think below is the entirety(?) of the speech:
Senator Lamar Alexander, who I believe is a decisive vote for hearing witnesses, explains why he’s voting against it in the thread below:
He mentions that the people can decide if what Trump did is inappropriate or not. But what if Trump keeps behaving in “inappropriate” ways and that gives him an “inappropriate” advantage in the upcoming election? What if he and the Republicans do even more “inappropriate” things, like not protect the elections adequately, calling into question the results if they go against Trump, or even suspending the election because of this?
Reading some of the news now, one reaction I had–and I’m hope I’m just being hysterical–is that the Republicans are going all in on an authoritarian approach. (McConnell not allowing a vote on a bill to give money to states to secure elections was another indication of this.) I feel really uneasy right now.
I’m seeing tweets like the following:
The assumption here is that Trump won’t do anything to really undermine the legitimacy of the elections. If you could guarantee this wasn’t going to happen, acquitting the President, while awful, wouldn’t leave me feeling nearly as low.
I’m thinking along the lines of Alene and McMullin:
How can people not think this is what Trump is going to do?
Senator Mitt Romney explaining his vote on removal. In my opinion, history will remember him well.
One thing that stood out for me–Romney chokes up early on when mentions taking an oath to God and how he’s very religious. I thought he was genuine, and I found this moving. I respect what he did.