Impeachment Winners and Losers

The Senate has acquitted President Trump, so here is my take on winners and lowers out of this whole process.

                                                               Winners

Adam Schiff.  The leader of the House managers conducted himself throughout with calmness, reason, and dignity, despite the constant name-calling from Trump and the right wing.

Mitt Romney.  He remained true to his conscience and voted for conviction on the abuse of power Article, the only Republican Senator to do so.  He became the first Senator ever to vote to convict a president of his own party in an impeachment proceeding.

Fiona Hill.  She distinguished herself in her testimony as a dedicated public servant, and answered all questions intelligently and persuasively.  The same could be said for several other of the House witnesses.

Doug Jones.  He is the Alabama Senator who won the seat when the Alabama Republican Party went brain-dead and nominated the sexual predator Roy Moore. His re-election was in doubt already, but  he showed great political courage in voting to convict even though it killed his re-election chances in red Alabama.

Joe Manchin.  Again, great political courage shown by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who tried to get a compromise solution by proposing to censure Trump, but his proposal didn't go anywhere. In a state which went for Trump by 42%, the easy thing to do would have been to vote to acquit, but he voted to convict, denying Trump the "bipartisan acquittal" that he sought.

Nancy Pelosi.  She has conducted herself with class and dignity throughout this process.  Trump has denounced her as evil and corrupt, but she has had the dignity not to respond in kind, even though that would have been appropriate.

                                                              Losers

Donald Trump.  The House evidence clearly showed that he violated his oath of office in trying to shake down a foreign government for political favors.  But what really makes him a loser is his continuing insistence that he did nothing wrong, and his castigation of all who oppose him as "evil" and "corrupt".  The man has no class at all, no dignity whatsoever; he revealed himself to be a mean, vulgar, despicable human being.

The Republican Party.  It is really had to see how the Republican Party will survive the Trump era.  They have all (except for Mitt) sold their souls in support of a corrupt president, and surely these chickens will come home to roost.

Alan Dershowitz.  He is still one of America's best lawyers, even at age 81, but his arguments here bordered on the ridiculous. His position that only an actual crime is impeachable conduct is supported by no constitutional scholar, and is contrary to common sense and the background of the impeachment provision in our constitution.

Ken Starr.  Like Dershowitz, Starr made himself look ridiculous by making the opposite argument to what he advocated during the Clinton impeachment.  Starr was also ineffective in making his arguments to the Senate, unlike Dershowitz who was as persuasive as he could possibly have been in advancing an untenable position.

Jonathan Turley.  Turley purports to be a liberal Democrat, but when it comes to impeachment, he in anything but.  He was on the cable news channels daily during the Clinton impeachment, arguing in favor of it, but now he testified before the House committee against the Trump impeachment.  He wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal on 11/28/19, but, unfortunately for him, an alert reader called him out soundly with a stinging rebuke published a week later.

(added 2/17/20).  Susan Collins.  This Maine Senator, who likes to portray herself as a moderate, brought disgrace upon herself for voting to acquit Trump.  She said after the vote that she thought Trump had "learned his lesson"; however, Trump's actions since have made it clear he has not learned his lessen, and in fact is only getting worse.