TV Spectacle of the Week
The Second Senate Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump — 2021
The Second Senate Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump — 2021
Week of February 8, 2021
The Second Senate Impeachment Trial of Former President Donald Trump
Any Network
2021
Well, unless you’re emerging from a rather lengthy coma or a bout of amnesia, then you know this is happening.
As hard as it may be to imagine, and by any measurement, The Second Impeachment Trial of Former President Donald Trump is sincerely riveting television.
I tuned in yesterday for opening remarks on a lark, with low expectations. I was lucky enough to catch Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), the lead House Impeachment Manager, give his opening remarks.
Raskin had gone through hell in the last few weeks of 2020 and the first week of 2021. He laid his only son, Thomas, to rest on January 5, 2021. His son had struggled with depression for a long time, and eventually, the disease won. That’s the kind of hell no parent should ever have to go through.
And then, he returned to Washington D.C. with his daughter and her new husband on January 6 to show them “the peaceful transfer of power.”
Listening to him was heartbreaking on all levels. If you don’t feel anything as he gave his opening remarks, I have to question the existence of your soul. I’m not joking.
That’s the kind of drama you can’t make up.
And then came Joe Neguse (D-Colorado), who spoke with such clinical precision, I have to imagine that must be what it’s like to watch the world’s most gifted neurosurgeon.
And then came the defense.
I know nothing about the law, but I know Lead Defense Attorney Bruce Castor gave an equally riveting opening statement. Just not in any cogent way. To call it meandering is a compliment. Again, I know nothing about law, but I was glued, trying to figure out how he would tie whatever the fuck he was saying into some kind of defense. Maybe I missed it?
[Not-So-Fun Fact: When Castor was a prosecutor in Montgomery County, PA., he declined to charge Bill Cosby after a Temple University employee accused him of sexual misconduct. Cosby was eventually convicted in 2018 of raping and drugging the woman. He even boldly claimed because HE refused to prosecute Cosby, he could NEVER be charged again. That is the man defending a former president.]
One of Trump’s other attorneys, David Schoen, had the unfortunate task of following Castor. And he gave a somewhat unhinged and angry diatribe. His remarks ended up serving as a ballast to Castor’s meandering opening statement and were marginally more cogent.
Honestly, if you have any doubt about the former president’s judgment — at all — all you really need to look at are the lawyers he chooses to defend him.
In any event, The Second Impeachment Trial of Former President Donald Trump does sound like it would be dry and dull television.
It’s not.
On the one hand, this is a bit like “reality” television. But then, what could we expect from a reality star turned president?
On the other hand, it is, to be blunt, history in the making.
Now, my politics aside (liberal), the burden of proof is on the prosecution. In this case, Raskin, et al. Theoretically, all the House impeachment managers really had to do was hit play on a video and pull up some of Trump’s Tweets. But what they have done so far is above and beyond that. By any objective standard, they have and are continuing to present a very compelling case.
We’ll see what the defense does next. Maybe they’ll hire that guy who streaked at the Super Bowl last week.
We all know how this turns out. Is there a chance the former president will be convicted? Of course. Is it likely? I, for one, don’t think so.
I don’t know how anyone can watch any of this and draw any other conclusion that the former president went out of his way to incite the events of January 6, 2021.
The fact that many agree on the outcome of The Second Impeachment Trial of Former President Donald Trump is a shame and a tremendous blight on our country.
As awful, tragic, and sad as all of this, this impeachment trial makes for fascinating television on so many levels.