I do understand that for much of the left, impeaching Trump wasn’t born of a cognitive or reasoned analysis. It was the culmination of three years’ worth of seething hatred and a pre-announced commitment to, in the immortal words of the esteem Representative Rashida Tlaib, “impeach the motherf*****.”

Still, the entire spectacle has been a bit bizarre if you honestly try to approach it from a dispassionate perspective. Impeachment is like an indictment for a normal citizen. Suppose you get arrested for killing a man. The county prosecutor will evaluate the evidence and see if there’s enough there to put you on trial. If there’s not, charges are dropped and you walk. If there is, he will indict you, meaning you have to stand trial before a jury that decides if you’re guilty.

In impeachment, the House of Representatives acts as the prosecutor determining if there was enough evidence against the President to put him on trial. And in the case of Trump, they have voted to impeach (indict) him and bring their case against him in front of the Senate. Like a jury, they will decide if he’s guilty – removing him if so, acquitting him if not.

Imagine a scenario where the prosecutor in your trial indicted you, but then refused to bring his case against you in front of the jury because he was afraid they wouldn’t do their jobs properly. It’s not his prerogative to do so, and would reflect very poorly on his understanding and fealty to the law if he did.

Yet that’s where we are with the current impasse in Washington. Fearing the Senate won’t vote as they would themselves, House Democrats are refusing to bring their case. That isn’t their prerogative and it reflects very poorly on their understanding and fealty to the law. What’s even more bizarre is that their celebrity cheerleaders are praising them for it:

Nancy Pelosi may thwart Mitch McConnell’s plan to fix the trial for Trump. She’s considering withholding the Articles of Impeachment until the Senate sets forth fair trial rules—which she says she hasn’t yet seen.



We need payback for Merrick Garland, and I’m here for it. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) December 19, 2019

Wait, so this is about “payback?” Not justice? Not the Constitution? Is this the face that the Democrats want to put on their entire undertaking? Besides, if Pelosi never brings her case, Trump remains in office, conducting government, and it’s as though the impeachment never really happened in the first place. How, precisely, is that supposed to be a “win” for the anti-Trump factions of the left?

Republicans think the Democrats erred in impeaching Trump in the House. That’s fine, they can think that. But Democrats had the votes and did it anyway regardless of Republican protest.

In the same way, Democrats can think the Republicans would err in acquitting Trump in the Senate. That’s fine, they can think that. But Republicans have the votes and are allowed to do it regardless of Democrat protest.

That’s how this works; it’s how it was designed to work. And the Democrat effort to pretend otherwise, as though they are entitled to always get their way, seems to me and a number of other Trump-skeptical citizens, to be a greater long-term threat to our republic than the guy they’re hellbent on removing.