How big of a circus?

The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve articles of impeachment this morning. I heard the GOP members got into a game of who could shout “No!” the loudest. The articles now go to the full House for a vote sometime next week.

As the Judiciary Committee was contemplating its task, Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff took on the question: Why not wait for all those subpoena cases be resolved by the courts? He said the process could take months, then added:

The argument “Why don’t you just wait?” amounts to this: Why don’t you just let him cheat in one more election? Why not let him cheat just one more time? Why not let him have foreign help just one more time?

That is what that argument amounts to.

The question now is what happens in the Senate. And no, I’m not talking about the final outcome. Moscow Mitch had been telling everyone who will listen (and there are a lot of conservative media ears for him to talk into) that there will be acquittal. The Senate (or at least the GOP side of the Senate and definitely Moscow Mitch) will do everything the nasty guy asks for (which I think is called juror tampering). So no pretense that anyone on the GOP side is going to do their constitutional duty.

The question is how big of a circus the trial will be.

As Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported a few days ago it could be a really big circus. The nasty guy wants witnesses. He wants a lineup of his opponents, such as Joe and Hunter Biden, so they can be persecuted in public. Says Sumner in response to a Senate desire of a quick trial:

But Trump doesn’t want it over, dammit. He’s come this far, doing all that stonewalling, obstructing, not cooperating, and more stonewalling. All that hard work of noncooperation has to be worth something, and he wants his show. According to CNN, Trump wants “a dramatic event.” He wants live witnesses. He wants tough cross-examination. He wants to see people hurt … so no one will ever think of doing this again in his second term. Or his third.

See people hurt. Seems to be the goal of the nasty guy in all situations.

A couple days later Joan McCarter, also of Daily Kos reports that they may not have witnesses. Sen. Mike Braun, GOP from Indiana called witnesses “mutually assured destruction.” Moscow Mitch admitted each witness needs 51 votes and it would be hard to get only the witnesses the nasty guy wants. Besides, why bother with witnesses? Everyone’s mind is already made up.

The only reason for the trial, says McCarter, is because:

dismissing the impeachment charges without one would be hard for vulnerable Republicans to defend in their reelection bids. Never mind that the outcome is the same: an abdication of their oaths of office and full acquittal for Trump.