This morning I watched with a sense pride and satisfaction as Doug Jones, Senator of Alabama, my Senator, took the rostrum in the chamber of the US Senate to explain his coming vote in the impeachment trial of the President of the United States.
A little background for those who may be unfamiliar: When Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama became Trump’s first Attorney General, a special election was held to fill his seat in the Senate. Roy Moore won the Republican primary and Doug Jones, a well known former federal prosecutor, became the Democratic nominee. It was apparent early on that despite his outrageous behavior as a former an Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Moore still had the upper hand; Ruby Red Alabama hadn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in 25 years. Then it happened. Women after women from Moore’s hometown came forward to accuse him of systematically trolling for under aged girls at the local mall in his younger days. Suburban women voted turned against him in mass and Jones won a very close election victory.
While his Republican opponent in his 2020 reelection bid has still not been chosen, Jones was already considered the heavy underdog. While there was still some hope that he might be reelected, it was clear that if he decided to vote to convict Trump all remaining hope would shatter. Since keeping Doug in office would greatly bolster the Democrats chances of taking control of the Senate, a small part of me hopped that Doug would give into political expediency since there was no way Trump was going to be convicted anyway.
However, all along I knew that Doug Jones, the former prosecutor and a man of absolute integrity, could never simply ignore the insurmountable evidence and vote to acquit Trump. He just isn’t built like that way. So, instead he will vote this afternoon to destroy any chance he had of being reelected to the Senate by voting to convict Trump on both counts.
I am sure it wasn’t an easy decision. Others in similar positions on both sides of the aisle will likely vote to continue their political careers and leave their integrity at the door. I, for one, am justly proud of my Alabama senator!
Cajun 2/5/2020