(Note I am writing this at about 8:00 PM as the proceedings continue.)

If you haven’t had the time to stay glued to your TV today because of other commitments, like a job, or if you are simply averse to watching paint dry, here is essentially what went on.

First of all Mitch McConnell didn’t have the perfect control of his Senate Republic caucus as expected in setting the rules for the trial.  Apparently some of the moderate Republicans took issue with his ridiculous desire to give each side 24 hours to make their cases over an only two day period.  That was what the White House wanted to get the trial over as quickly as possible and to hide as much of the proceedings as possible from the American public.  This would have meant 12 hour secessions over that two day period stating at 1:00 AM guaranteeing that much of proceedings would occur when the people weren’t watching.

McConnell was also apparently informed that some of the moderates would not go along with requiring a vote as to whether the House evidence should be admitted in the Senate trial.  Again he was attempting to stack the deck by trying to preclude the document evidence amassed during the House of Representative’s investigation’s from ever seeing the light of day in the Senate.

At the last minute McConnell back down on these two issues as evidenced by the fact that the changes were made in handwritten entries in the margins of the type written documents containing the proposed rules.  The House evidence is to be automatically admitted and each side was given three days (8 hours each day) to present their cases.

Most of today was spent on Democratic addendums to the rules which McConnell presented early.  By Senate rules those addendums have to be debated and voted on before the Senate votes on the rules themselves. As of this writing the Democrats presented three changes to the McConnell’s proposed rules. The first called for the calling of witness, the second the subpoenaing document from the State Department +pertaining to Trumps actions while the third called for the Subpoenaing of documents from the Office of Management and budget. These first three were defeated by a party line vote with all of the Senate Republicans voting to table the motions and fourth and any other amendments presented by the Democrats are expected to meet the same fate.

Now some may question why the Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, would make these proposed rule changes when he knew well in advance that they were predestined for failure and that McConnell’s proposed rules would be adopted later tonight without any changes.  However, as I am sure you can guess, the Democrats have good reasons for tilting at those apparent windmills.

First of all there were a lot of people watching the proceedings on TV and today’s events are sure to get wall to wall coverage later by the news networks and programs. As much as anything the proposals were made for public consumption and to put the Republican Senators who vote against them on record as turning down reasonable proposals aimed at conducting an open and fair trial.

The Democratic floor managers are extremely well prepared and have provide beautifully crafted fact based arguments as to why each of the proposed changes to McConnell’s proposed trial rules are warranted by the evidence and are absolute necessary for full disclosure of the evidence to both the Senators and the American people.

On the other hand the Trump’s lawyers during their time on the floor failed to address the facts presented by the floor manager and often even failed to address the proposals themselves.  Instead they resorted to parroting the same worn out arguments we have heard Trump and his surrogates use time and time again – the impeachment proceedings in the House were unfair and rigged, it’s all a witch hunt, Trump is the victim, the House didn’t do its job so why Senate do it for them, a president’s executive privilege is sacrosanct, etc., etc.  At one point they even implied that the impeachment is was simply an extension of an effort by the FBI to fabricate a fraudulent rationale for attacking Trump. In the process followed Trump’s example by telling at least three out and out lies.

Trump probably liked their performance because much of their rhetoric seemed to be aimed more at keeping Trump’s base in line rather than trying to persuade the Senators to reject the Democrat’s proposals. Of course they knew in advance that the Democrat’s proposed changes less than than a snow ball’s chances in Hades of being adopted. Trying my best to be objective, I still have come to the conclusion that the performance of Trump’s lawyers was disjointed at best and totally failed to address the house managers’ fact based arguments. Based on their performances this afternoon, I wouldn’t want any of these guys representing me in court.

On the other hand, I believe that house managers did an outstanding job and Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic floor manager, was brilliant.  It is obvious why Nancy Pelosi picked him for the job.  He must have been one hell of a public prosecutor.  Hakeem Jefferies also doing an exceptionally good job at presenting another Democratic proposal as I write this.

Schiff not only presented the first Democratic proposal, but he was also handled the rebuttals of the Trump’s lawyer’s attacks on all of the proposals.  As a former high school debater I know how difficult to respond immediately after arguments made by your opponent when didn’t know in advance what arguments he is going to use or how he would substantiate them.  Schiff is not only an accomplished public speaker who delivered his counter arguments on the fly as if he had written them down and practiced them in advance; he is also extremely knowledgeable of the facts and uses them to great advantage to bolster his arguments.

If I were judging the exchanges between the Democratic mangers and the Trump’s lawyers as a debate, the Democrats are wining today hands down.  Alas, this is a rigged process and, except for the concessions McConnell made to his moderate Republican colleagues earlier in the day, he will win the day, at least on the surface.

However, not only were the Democrats able to put the Senate Republicans in the box of openly opposing a fair trial, they were able to get a head start in presenting their case to the viewing public.  The house managers, in their arguments for the for the proposed rule changes, have presented many of the arguments they will use during the trial itself to try to persuade the Senators, and more importantly the American  voters, that Trump must removed from office. In matters of this type, repetition is key to winning people over.  When arguments are pounded home time an time again, they gain more acceptance.

After all, we know that there is absolutely no chance that 67 Senators, including 20 Republicans, will vote to convict Trump.  This is now about removing Trump office by way of the 2020 presidential election.  It is also about holding vulnerable Senator Republicans accountable in their next elections for going along with McConnell’s attempt to rig the Senate trial in favor of the president by rushing it along and by ensuring that the American voters are kept in the dark by participating in and perpetuating the Trump coverup.

Cajun       1/21/2020