While Britain was busy installing another clown prince of western democracy, the American circus was in full swing. The House Judiciary Committee and the nation were subjected to a 15-hour hearing yesterday to mark up the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, American president. Much of this was taken up by Republicans yelling, particularly about The Process and Adam Schiff and The Transcript. (Reminder: There is no transcript, the thing in question is actually a memo about The Call, and it is not exculpatory.) At one point, Matt Gaetz went off on Hunter Biden's struggles with substance abuse and immediately got his comeuppance based on his own personal history. The popular theory is now that Republicans are seeking to make proceedings so screechy and annoying that people just tune out—and, in turn, ignore the president's clear abuses of power.

Around 11:15 p.m. on Thursday, committee chairman Jerry Nadler gaveled in to announce the committee would adjourn and take up the articles this morning. After 15 hours, Democrats had reportedly determined that Republicans were trying to drag things out as long as possible. (Another theory holds that Trump's allies wanted the vote to take place late at night, creating the ready-made talking point that Democrats Voted to Impeach in the Dead of Night. For now, that's just when Republicans forced through their tax bill.) Nadler's move prompted a full-scale meltdown by the Republican members. Ranking Member Doug Collins, who seems to be on a months-long audition for his next job as an auctioneer (Next on the block? The rule of law. Do I hear $10,000?), wailed that he had not been consulted. Congressman Louie Gohmert could be heard on the live mic comparing Nadler to Joseph Stalin. "Let's just have a dictator," Gohmert declared, saying more than he knew.

Soon enough, Collins was running to the cameras to declare Democrats had postponed the hearing to get in front of the cameras.

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This festival of the absurd is ancillary to the main concern, that Republicans have demonstrated zero interest in discussing what the president actually did and, in theory, defending it as acceptable. Sometimes, they will misrepresent the record of what happened, but for the most part, we're subjected to rants about the rigged process (the Secret Basement Hearings was a favorite, set to be replaced by In the Dead of Night) and how Democrats have always wanted to impeach the president. Nobody seems to want to go on the record to say, "The president extorting a foreign government until they agree to undermine free and fair American elections is good."

And besides, there's really no need for the president's fans to get worked up about the process. The articles passed the committee this morning and, assuming they also pass the full House, the resulting Senate trial is guaranteed to be a complete sham. Reports have it that the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are debating two options: a quick trial with no witnesses in which the president is quickly acquitted; or a long show trial, where a bunch of random Trump Extended Conspiracy Universe figures are called in an attempt to turn the tables on Democrats. McConnell favors the former, while Trump has for some time appeared to have an appetite for the latter, though it seems he may be coming around to McConnell's point of view on the basis that calling a bunch of witnesses could have unpredictable consequences. Either way, the president's actual conduct will not get a serious airing.

Not convinced? Here's McConnell on Fox News last night, admitting outright that he will not be serving as the head of a co-equal branch of government tasked with providing oversight of the Executive. He will instead be running interference for the Executive so the president will, now and in the future, basically be free to do whatever he wants. No checks and balances, no separation of powers, nothing. Ol' Louie Gohmert might be getting just what he sarcastically asked for.

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"Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with White House Counsel. There will be no difference between the President’s position and our position as to how to handle this."



The Senate majority now belongs to the Executive-forget Separation of Powers. #MoscowMitchMcConnell pic.twitter.com/yHaowcClsT — Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) December 13, 2019

It is truly incredible what the Republican Party has shown itself capable of in the pursuit of entrenching its minority power. McConnell will abide any Trumpian behavior—his obvious public corruption, his renegade foreign policy that often contravenes any discernible national interest, his vicious and childish interpersonal behavior—if it means cutting taxes and regulations for the donor class and putting more conservative judges on the bench to say the law is whatever those same folks want. McConnell bragged about trampling democratic norms to stuff the judiciary full of right-wing rubber-stamps elsewhere in this same interview.

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Hannity: "I was shocked that former President Obama left so many [judicial] vacancies and didn't try to fill those positions."



Mitch McConnell: "I'll tell you why. I was in charge of what we did the last two years of the Obama administration. [Creepy evil laugh]" pic.twitter.com/revbToN8aZ — Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) December 13, 2019

McConnell did say the judges he's installing in the court system are "strict constructionists" elsewhere in the interview. But these days, they mostly don't even pretend that these are the most qualified jurists or any of the other lines they used to trot out. Republicans simply say they're here to put conservative judges in lifetime jobs, and it's not complicated why: it's the easiest way to shield their policies from public opinion.

That's why McConnell ratfucked a Supreme Court seat, and essentially nullified President Obama's constitutional prerogative to appoint federal judges. (McConnell also declared he would put a Trump Supreme Court judge up in this coming election year, which was his excuse for screwing over Merrick Garland. He does not care.) This works in tandem with voter suppression and extreme gerrymandering to prop up minority rule. In the most extreme examples, Republican state legislatures have responded to losing gubernatorial elections by attempting to strip the governor's office of its powers before a Democrat can use them.

They can really feel the power coursing through their veins now, as all the stories we were told in school about the self-sustaining mechanisms of a democratic republic collapse before our eyes. If you are shameless enough, and there's a media ecosystem in place to back you up no matter what you do, you can really do whatever you want. It helps if the only other major political party is slow to come to grips with what it's up against: a fully authoritarian outfit that is prepared to use the levers of democracy to entrench its own power, regardless of whether its policies are popular or how people vote. It appears Boris Johnson and the Tories are prepared to do the same over in Britain—complete with a Voter ID law. Saddle up, kids, we're headed to a new place now.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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