A Greek Tragedy

Today the President’s defense begins in earnest.  Starting at 1 pm in the Senate Chamber, the lawyers representing Donald John Trump will explain why he shouldn’t be removed from office.  

Defending Trump

I expect this afternoon we will hear from the academics. Alan Dershowitz will proclaim his wildly aberrant views on the US Constitution. Ken Starr will promulgate his belief that the House Managers have usurped the powers of the Justice Department.  Their arguments will add up to:  Article II of the Constitution gives the President near unlimited power including total control of the Justice Department.  And the Justice Department is the only agency in the government that can investigate the President.

The President would have to investigate himself, and recommend his own impeachment to fit into the Constitutional model the two will create. It leaves no real way to counter Presidential misconduct.

A Favor, Though

But tonight is when the real show begins, in prime time presented to Fox News viewers for the first time unfettered by commentary.  Tonight Donald Trump will achieve what he failed to get from the Ukrainian government:  Joe Biden’s name dragged through the mud.  

In the end, this is all about the 2020 election.  Trump beat Clinton because they both had record high negative ratings among voters.  For Trump to win in 2020, he has to replicate that scenario, including the improbably narrow popular vote victories in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  His opponent has to be smeared, right or wrong. Trump has to find a way to make them equally “dirty”. 

Joe Biden doesn’t carry those negatives, even with a political “tail” that stretches back into the 1970’s.  If Biden wins the Democratic nomination, Trump must reduce him to this lowest common denominator to be successful.  That’s what made the Zelenskiy phone call so important, and what will make tonight so ugly.  It’s the Trump Campaign’s best shot to build the “stench of corruption,” around Biden, undeserved after fifty years of public service.  

So expect that Attorneys Cipillone and Sekulow will be serving in a campaign capacity rather than a legal one tonight.

The Fates

In the ancient Greek tragedies, there was always a chorus of “Fates” chanting in the background.  They foretold the future, and that future was always bleak.  The best acts of man were doomed to fail; it was the Gods that determined the course of events, not men.

Republicans in the Senate might well feel the same as those mere mortals in Greek tragedy.  They hope to control their fate, shutting off witnesses, evidence, and discussion by ending the Trump trial.  They are desperately trying to control their future, the President’s future, and the fate of the Republican Party.  

But just as the chorus chanted in the background in the Greek Amphitheatre, the media is foretelling events today.  Republicans are rushing the process to keep information out, but the steady drip of evidence not heard in the trial continues.

Last night the New York Times published a glimpse into former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s new book.  In it, Bolton testifies that President Trump specifically ordered military aid withheld from Ukraine to leverage their government investigation into Biden.  For the Republicans in the Senate, claiming only circumstantial evidence of Presidential misconduct, it’s a “nail in the coffin”.

The Drip of Truth

They cannot hear Bolton testify in the Senate, without being forced to acknowledge the President’s offenses.  And Bolton wants his say, and his profit.  The American people will hear him whether he testifies in the Senate or not.  And that will leave the Republicans caught outright in their cover-up of the President’s actions.

And if Bolton weren’t enough, we get to hear directly from the President, telling Parnas and Fruman that he will “take out” Ambassador Yovanovitch.  Why Fruman recorded an hour and more of a dinner party it’s difficult to say, but we can listen to it all today, even if the Senate Republicans will not.

The real story will keep coming out, drip by drip.  Before the conventions, perhaps even before the end of the primaries, all America will know exactly what President Trump did.  We will likely find that the House Managers were right, and that McConnell and his comrades willfully allowed a rogue Presidency.

Like the Greek Gods, the electorate will determine the fate, not only of President Trump, but also of the Republican Party as a whole.  While the Republicans may control the moment in the Senate, the power of facts will ultimately be revealed.  Let’s hope the voters will show the wisdom of Olympians.