Originally Posted by
MumblesBadly
This was something more than a game of shirts vs. skins. It was a test of whether the modern GOP is willing to turn its back on a fascist wannabe dictator who has zero respect for the Constitution that the GOPers so often loudly claim to cherish versus coddle him and his lies in order to avoid the short term pain of Trump unleashing his influence over his MAGA crowd to take political revenge on them. And most — but not all — GOPers in the Senate massively failed that test.
Are you really this gullible?
This was a highly political move by the Dems to create a win-win situation for their own political future.
If the GOP mostly went along with convicting Trump, then the party fractures badly, with the MAGA people believing the rest of the GOP to be traitors.
If the GOP mostly didn't go along with convicting Trump, then the Dems can hassle them for the next two years for "supporting an insurrection against Democracy".
This entire thing was nonsense because Trump never told anyone to attack the Capitol. He didn't commit any crime. You can't just make the leap from "dangerous rhetoric" to "call to commit acts of violence". The same could be said about Bernie's rhetoric about Republicans killing seniors with their healthcare plan, and then one of his supporters shooting up a Republican baseball game.
Was this impeachment a good political move by the Dems? Yes.
Were Republicans cowardly or unethical not to go along with it? No. The smart move was to reject it.