We have not yet had all the final speechifying where GOP senators attempt to justify their votes to make this the first US federal impeachment trial in history (there have been 15, mostly of judges) not to have any witnesses, as well as the foregone acquittal. But the battle over how it will be viewed in both the short and medium and long runs is already going on. A sign of this is a column in yesterday’s Washington Post by Hugh Hewitt entitled, “This impeachment charade will fade quickly,” with Hewitt viewing the “charade” part not to mean the refusal of the Senate to have witnesses, but the entire trial itself, which he Trumpisly declares to have consisted of “fake history,” because Trump will be viewed in 50 years as an “outsize personality” with “a growing list of achievements.” Claims like this will clearly underpin Trump’s reelection campaign, even as several GOP senators up for reelection will probably find that their votes for the charade of not having witnesses will not “fade quickly” and may well do them in, even if Trump manages to squeak through to reelection.
Here is the list of things Hewitt things are achievements, almost none of which I think are, and most, if not all, will be viewed as mistakes or Bad Things 50 years from now to the extent they are remembered at all, my comments in brackets.
“…rebuilding a U.S. military of $716 billion (and a new service branch, the Space Force) [not likely to be remembered, and if the Space Force really gets off the ground, which it probably will, nobody will remember it was Trump that started it], the appointment s of (so far) two Supreme Court justices, 50 appeals court judges and 133 district judges [quite aside from the awful blocking by McConnell of Merrick Garland’s sppointment, the apparently low level of competence of these highly ideolgical appointments, many young, will still be a millstone on our society 50 years from now, but not one people will priaise]. a massive tax cut [this is not even popular now and will not be any more so in the future, tilting to the rich while blowing up the budget deficit], 3.5 percent unemployment [this is the first item not actually bad, but not much due to him], the country’s exit from the Iran deal [worst foreign policy move by a president since W. Bush invaded Iraq] and the Paris climate accord [condemned already by nearly everybody on the planet outside Trump circles in the US with that not likely to be viewed more favorably as time proceeds]. clarity on China as the nation’s chief strategic competitor [I think Obama already had made that clear, but if this is supposed to be praise of Trump’s trade war with China, I do not think that will be viewed favorably 50 years from now, a farce], a renewed Israeli alliance anchored in the relocation of the U.S embasssy to Jerusalem [in 50 years probably to be viewed favorably by few outside of Israel itself and some evangelical Christians in the US, who are a declining portion of the population], the caliphate of the Islamic State destroyed [gets some credit for this, although basicallly followed policy set by Obama and OKing Turkish invasion of NW Syria to kick out local Kurds damages this], and “most wanted” terrorists Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Qasem Soleimani eliminated [OK on the first, although he nearly caussed that not to happen thanks to Turkish invasion of Kurdish territories, and second has been a botch, with lots of people dying as a result of it and none so far saved that I am aware of], partial construction of the border wall [the less said the better, and others have built portions of the wall without anybody claiming this was som great accomplishment of theirs]. and significant immigration reform through executive orders [I suspect he will be remembered for tearing children out of their mothers’ arms and outright blocking asylum refugees and others from many nations, all of which will be roundly condemned in the future], a regulatory rollback [with so much of that involving reducing environmental regs I do not think this will be viewed favorably in the future], the passage of the USMCA [a nothing burger barely different from NAFTA, although at least not outright bad like most of this], Obamacare’s individual mandate repealed {I do not know what will be the US health care system 50 years from now, but I am quite sure this act will not be remembered at all, much less as having helped improve it], and “right to try” and justice reform legislation passed [I am fine with this, but note Trump initially resisted it and only signed it after it passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support].“
What is disturbing is that incessant repetition in the media of much of this may well please enough people all worked up about how Trump was mistreated by Dems in Congress that he might get reelected. But with the exception of a very few items, most of this will be viewed as very misguieded and unfortunate 50 years from now, to the extent it is remembered at all.
Barkley Rosser
It is a mystery of life to me how someone like Hewitt can write for the Post and show up on MSNBC.
It is the worst of bothsiderism.
Just beause he doesn’t foam at the mouth (well, not all the time) somehow he belongs peddling his rwdw bs in places that should just ignore him.
And this involvement with Hewitt has been going on for a long time, and there really is no reason for it.
”
This is not Hewitt’s first time courting controversy in a matter involving the impeachment of a Republican president. Back in 1990, when Hewitt was the executive director of the newly opened Richard Nixon presidential library, he attempted to screen the documents that would be stored in the library and who could access them, based on the content of the proposed work.
“I don’t think we’d ever open the doors to Bob Woodward. He’s not a responsible journalist,” Hewitt said of one of the two reporters whose work helped to bring down Nixon’s presidency, telling the Los Angeles Times that Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s 1976 book The Final Days was “unsourced gossip.”
Hewitt’s decision was rescinded soon afterward, and he stepped down from his position at the library just two months later. But the incident remains illustrative of his approach to executive power and accountability.
With such a long record showing his authoritarian and conspiratorial mindset, the question remains: Why do mainstream media take him seriously?”
https://www.mediamatters.org/trump-impeachment-inquiry/hugh-hewitt-descends-further-pro-trump-fever-swamps-mainstream-media
South Africa in the 80’s.
I saw the list of “supposed” accomplishments and was busily shooting the ones I could down. I do not understand the indignation of Republican Senators over the impeachment of dtrump. The indignation should have come much sooner over his racist, bigoted, misogynistic, etc. character as president. Where were the senators then? List of accomplishments??? 400 plus House bills waiting for a hearing in the Senate. That could be added to the list.
I was over visiting econospeak and reading comments. For sure Anonymous is Anne. The detail is there.
Pumping in more illegal aliens at a record pace is another “accomplishment” .
Credit where credit is due. Despite the fact that he faces almost no repercussions for his vote, Romney deserves credit.
Otoh, let us hope that Collins latest reptilian act costs her the Senate.
“No, Romney set himself apart. Even if he is only concerned with the judgment of history, it has put him in a far better place than the sycophants and enablers who so befouled the old halls of the legislature during the president’s pantomime State of the Union address Tuesday night. Romney’s speech was sweeping, decisive, and hardly short on moral clarity.
In one section, he got to the heart of it.
‘What he did was not “perfect”— no, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security interests, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.’
That’s it. The president attacked American democracy, undermining the legitimacy of an American presidential election, to keep himself in power. He used his power to stay in power, regardless of the people’s will. It is the essential abuse of power. It is the elemental high crime and misdemeanor. The president extorted an ally who’s under assault by authoritarian Russia until they agreed to ratfuck his domestic political opponent for his own personal gain. Then he sent his lawyers to the floor of the United States Senate to argue that if he deems his re-election to be in the national interest, he can do anything to get re-elected. Never mind that the purpose of the election is to allow voters to decide if his re-election is in the national interest. These craven fools would make for themselves an American king and gleefully bow before him.
If the president is acquitted, and it appears he will be, he will put Alan Dershowitz’s despicable argument to the test. He will do the same he did with Ukraine, and more, here and abroad. Susan Collins has enabled this on the hilarious pretense that “the president has learned from this case.” The idea Donald Trump is chastened when he gets away with something was absurd on its own before Trump declared, within 24 hours, that he still believed what he’d done was “perfect.” Now Collins says she should have said she “hopes” Trump learned a lesson. How’s that for an historical epitaph?
Romney will pay the price for his integrity in a party that has jettisoned any discernible principle beyond full-bore allegiance to The Leader. Already, Junior is calling for him to be expelled from the party, because there is nothing holding the party together except frightened servitude. Republicans do not care about The National Debt. They’ve said nothing as Trump exploded it and the deficit hit $1 trillion a year. They don’t care about free markets over government intervention in the economy. Trump is driving a fully socialist program to pay farmers whose businesses have been decimated by his trade war. All anyone cares about in this new American Versailles is garnering the leader’s favor. Romney, for all his past malleability, should be applauded for standing up straight when his colleagues would bend to greed and fear.”
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a30783175/mitt-romney-vote-convict-trump-impeachment-senate/