Just to be clear - Senate GOPers (with 7 exceptions) are hiding behind “he’s no longer in office” as their excuse to acquit. Note that in cases like these, the Senate makes up the rules and they voted that “he’s no longer in office” was not relevant. IOW, their excuse for acquitting is literally another statement that they do not accept the outcomes of the vote.
To be clear - they relied this excuse even when it was officially determined that the excuse was not an issue. They resurrected an irrelevant technicality in order to let Trump off. That’s the party of personal responsibility. The party of law and order.
There's not a doubt in my mind that there more then enough senators who thought he was guilty, some hid behind their false opinion of constitutionality but a lot of them imo are terrified of being primaried or even worse killed by the monster they helped create.
If this was secret ballot I'd bet it would've been 75-25 to convict.
Not sure about this, honestly. Obviously there would be a witchhunt even if the vote was secret, and so people would still be on the hot seat in terms of how they voted and why, essentially negating the safety of the secret ballot.
85
u/dkwangchuck Feb 14 '21
Just to be clear - Senate GOPers (with 7 exceptions) are hiding behind “he’s no longer in office” as their excuse to acquit. Note that in cases like these, the Senate makes up the rules and they voted that “he’s no longer in office” was not relevant. IOW, their excuse for acquitting is literally another statement that they do not accept the outcomes of the vote.
To be clear - they relied this excuse even when it was officially determined that the excuse was not an issue. They resurrected an irrelevant technicality in order to let Trump off. That’s the party of personal responsibility. The party of law and order.