Schumer is on strong footing with the American people, according to the just-released Post-ABC News poll. By a huge 71 percent to 22 percent margin, Americans want President Trump to allow top aides to testify. “Among Democrats, 79 percent say Trump should let his advisers appear before the Senate, while 64 percent of Republicans agree. Among independents, 72 percent favor their appearance. There is also sizable agreement among men and women, whites and nonwhites, and all age groups, contrary to the divisions over impeachment itself.”
Even more striking, 62 percent of Americans think it was inappropriate for Trump to hold up aid to Ukraine, including 63 percent of independents and a third of Republicans. Fifty-three percent say Democrats are acting to uphold the Constitution, including 61 percent of independents and over a third of Republicans. In short, Schumer and Democrats should not shy away from doing their constitutional duty; the public, even a significant share of Republicans, does not fault their motives in handling impeachment. (Overall, a plurality, 49 to 45 percent, approves of their handling of impeachment.) Four other factors also weigh in Schumer’s favor.
The first is that the Senate is not the House. Not yet. There is a reason Schumer focused on potential Republican objectors to McConnell’s rush to a verdict. “So, in the coming weeks, senators — particularly Republican senators — will have a choice,” Schumer explained. “Do they want a fair, honest trial that examines all the facts? Or do they want a trial that doesn’t let the facts come out?” He essentially said that if senators do not support a real trial, they leave themselves open to the charge that they (like Trump) are part of a “coverup.” Unlike the House, the Senate might contain a small number of Republicans who care about such things, or at least worry they might lose independent voters in swing states by advancing outrageous arguments on process/fairness and then voting to let Trump off the hook.
Another advantage for Schumer is Republicans’ own propensity to overreach as they play to an audience of one (Trump). Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) took a surprising amount of heat for snubbing his role as an impartial juror, as did McConnell for openly assuring the base he was colluding with Trump’s lawyers. Schumer has all the evidence he could want at this stage that, left to their own devices, Republicans will conduct a farcical exercise that undermines the Constitution rather than elevating it.
Third, while there are so far only a couple, Republican non-officeholders are beginning to pop up. Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge (“As far as I’m concerned, it is abuse of power”) and former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina (“destructive to the republic”) both have publicly stated that they support impeachment. The less open and fair the trial, the more figures on the right may begin to emerge, however timidly, suggesting the only “hoax” is the Republicans’ fake trial.
Finally, Schumer is also aided by the horribly weak response from Republicans. Their line is that Democrats should have gotten all the facts in the House and, now, it’s effectively too late. This is balderdash. The House effectively indicts; the Senate tries the case. As in every trial in the United States, lots of witnesses might become available between the indictment and the trial. That is normal and appropriate; the “solution” is not to exclude it because the grand jury found enough evidence for an indictment. Republicans really cannot simultaneously claim there is not enough evidence and then refuse to cooperate in getting it.
Even worse, if the courts eventually rule that Trump improperly blocked evidence with a bogus claim of absolute immunity, and damaging evidence does come out, Republicans will truly have engaged in a gross miscarriage of justice.
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