But, isn't "NOT showing up" the virtual equivalent of voting for conviction? I mean, if conviction occurs after they abstain, they will suffer the same consequences as they would have if they had voted with the super majority for conviction, no?

If Republican Senators decide they do not want to vote, nothing requires them to show up to work the day the vote occurs. It makes it it much easier to get 2/3 votes to convict if there are less members in the jury!

They are keeping themselves safe from Trumpanzie rage for the moment and, in the end, can still vote to end the scourge of Trumpism. Or abstain: same result, less political pain, perhaps.

But Trump is still a yuge problem for the Establishment Repugs and this is still their yugest and bestus chance to be rid of him. This from Bloomberg.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling to fellow Republicans that the final vote on Donald Trump’s impeachment is matter of conscience and that senators who disputed the constitutionality of the trial could still vote to convict the former president...

That position is starkly different than McConnell’s declaration at the start of Trump’s first impeachment trial last year that he did not consider himself an impartial juror.

I'm researching whether or not Senators can simply abstain come time to vote -- full report shortly.

This is an excellent and to the point summary of the MAGAt mindset. Many fell in love with Trump's TV portrayal of a supposed billionaire, yes, but "sticking it to the Libs" is the bottom line for these poor Devils.

[12]

It's only More political theater, even dumber that the first episode if you're going to be cool when Joe Biden openly extorts a country to announce a fake investigation of, say, Nikki Haley during the next Presidential primary season, and then send the ANTIFA/BLM people to stop Haley's Electoral vote victory confirmation.

MAGA Trump voters are a lost cause. They don't vote based on policy. It doesn't matter to them what Democrats do. MAGA Trump voters only want 2 things: 1) To see people who look and talk like themselves in power 2) To see those people "stick" it to the Libs. There is no amount of messaging by Democrats that can persuade them.

For Example: If Donald Trump was in favor of a 15 dollar minimum wage, they would be in favor of it. If he was against it, they would be against it. If Democrats were for it, they would be against it, simply because Democrats were for it, even if it was something they originally supported.

Democrats have won the culture war, this has been accepted by both parties. Republicans have abandoned or surrendered their positions on gay marriage, free trade, deficits, law and order, etc. The vast majority of what now constitutes the Republican base never really cared about those things (except maybe evangelicals, who could care less about Trump's own morals, as it now turns out), as Republican legislators have come to find out.

That's why the Republicans only concentrated on TWO things while in power. 1) A tax cut and 2) getting as many conservative judges in power as possible. Because corporate America can get what it wants thru the courts.

What natters to the Republican voting base is the perception of who has power. A multicultural, multiracial, liberal, black and brown America is seen as an existential threat by MAGA America. Not policy, but WHO wields the decision making, is what matters to them.

Senators took this oath at the start of the trial:

‘I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God.’

Not sure how Republicans can be viewed as not violating their oaths if they are ignoring the charges being brought against Trump by acquitting him based on something not stated in the Articles of Impeachment?

Well, I guess if there is anything positive about Trump’s time as president it would be that Trump has demonstrated how the Founding Fathers ideas on the Electoral College’s role in preventing an unfit cult leader from becoming President and that Impeachment is the best way to remove an unfit President from office were both huge FAILURES!

I thought it was a particularly heartwarming gesture when he culminated all that rambling prattling nonsensical drivel by suggesting that the Department of Justice should arrest his client. Oh, I completely agree and not for nothing, I assure you.

But in general, Trump likes people who get feisty on television, so it's a fair assumption that Trump won't be very happy with Castor's performance today.

Thank you for your services; the check is (not) in the mail. Poor Donald... but what's a billionaire to do when it's difficult to retain respectable legal representation because you have a 50-plus-year reputation for being both a (mob connected) criminal and a deadbeat who doesn't pay his vendors for property purchased and/or services rendered.

The Constitution isn't the least bit unclear about this; however, a sizable portion of America's representatives in the United States Senate has decided to self-relinquish the awesome power granted to We the People through them by our United States Constitution in favor of cowering in the corner in fear.

If 44 Republicans are too cowardly to even cast a vote that affirms their power to hold a trial regarding the impeachment of the 45th President, when it was also the GOP who refused to hold said trial while he held office, that tells you everything you need to know.

The GOP is flailing and has ceased to govern. Reminds me of the Whig Party who supported the importance of the power of Congress over that of the president... except these cowards are just doing it in reverse. Abraham Lincoln was a Whig. Of course, it's far more nuanced and complicated than this, but the Whig Party became extinct when they ultimately fractured over the issue of slavery... some joining the Democratic Party, some retiring, and the anti-slavery Whigs becoming the Republican Party... and here we are now with the Party of Lincoln bending over and relinquishing their power in favor of an autocrat.

History has its eyes on you.

But, boy, everyone thought that first defense lawyer was a rambling clown, seems to be pretty universal. Can't wait to see what Colbert and Seth do to him tonight...

-CW

get edible.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/why-jamie-raskins-speech-resonated/ar-BB1dxN5t

https://youtu.be/5fvsItXYgzk

JL

Sooner or later I'll steel myself to watch the opening video (thanks for the link). I've no desire at all to immerse myself in pure Trump and Trumpist violence, when I'm just coming down from four years of changing the radio channel whenever his voice came on, and four years leaving the office when colleagues began defending him the morning after a long night of Fox-watching.

Please do continue the reports.