Mitch McConnell is nobody’s fool. He’s been in politics long enough to where he knows when the winds of opinion have shifted and they certainly have in the past few weeks since McConnell initially announced his intention to make the trial a non-trial, in essence, with no witnesses. Chuck Schumer immediately countered that the essence of a trial was to have testimony from witnesses, and it looks like a vast majority of the American public is going along with Schumer. A recent poll showed 54% of Americans in favor of a real trial in the Senate and now there’s yet another, showing 70% of Americans in favor. These kinds of numbers cannot be ignored, and McConnell knows it. USA Today:

A poll released Tuesday by ABC News and The Washington Post found that about 7 in 10 Americans think the administration officials should be able to testify. In an example of bipartisan agreement, 79% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans and 72% of independents agree that Trump should allow them to appear in a Senate trial in the likely event that the House votes to impeach him.

Very simply, McConnell can’t please everybody. He doesn’t want to let witnesses testify, but he may be forced to. And, implausibly, Donald Trump is the one who may force his hand, because Trump is insisting on witnesses as well.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday rejected Democrats’ proposal for four key witnesses to testify before the Senate: Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff; John Bolton, former national security adviser; Robert Blair, senior adviser to the acting White House chief of staff; and Michael Duffey, associate director for national security, Office of Management and Budget. The four are believed to have information about nearly $400 million in military aid that was withheld and a key White House meeting with the Ukraine leader that was allegedly used as leverage for the investigations Trump wanted. But Senate Republicans said they may not want witnesses for the trial for fear of lengthening the process, even though Trump has called for Joe Biden and the anonymous whistleblower who filed the complaint that sparked impeachment to testify.

McConnell is doubtlessly aware of Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “Public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail, without it, nothing can succeed.” Or, if he isn’t, maybe now would be a good time to consider it.