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My view on yesterday's vote is basically:
1) I believe Trump was clearly guilty on the merits of the impeachment charge. Because of his egregious, outrageous, & unprecedented actions, I was strongly in favor of impeachment & conviction almost immediately on Jan. 6.
1) I believe Trump was clearly guilty on the merits of the impeachment charge. Because of his egregious, outrageous, & unprecedented actions, I was strongly in favor of impeachment & conviction almost immediately on Jan. 6.
2) Despite my view that the merits case is a slam-dunk, I remain deeply conflicted on the late-impeachment constitutionality question. I believe it is a very difficult question.
3) Therefore, although I greatly admire the 7 GOP senators who voted to hold Trump accountable by convicting, I am reluctant to categorically denounce all those who voted otherwise. This is particularly true as to those senators who at least strongly condemned Trump's actions.
4) The case in point, of course, is Leader McConnell, who delivered quite an excellent speech blasting Trump's conduct. https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/remarks/mcconnell-on-impeachment-disgraceful-dereliction-cannot-lead-senate-to-defy-our-own-constitutional-guardrails
5) It is of course virtually certain that many Republicans who cited the constitutionality argument -- potentially including McConnell -- were using that argument (at least in part) as a convenient excuse to acquit, rather than a result of careful, dispassionate deliberation.
6) Nevertheless, it's not clear to me that this should matter very much. Many Dems surely were also motivated in part by partisan considerations in their constitutionality vote. (Despite it being a close question, not one Democrat of 50 voted against constitutionality!) @Greg651
7) To be sure, one could argue that any senator who thought Trump guilty on merits should've chosen to resolve the close constitutional question to give effect to that judgment. But one could also argue that if a senator isn't 100% certain he has jurisdiction, he should acquit.
8) Bottom line, I'm inclined to be more charitable than many Never Trumpers in addressing the acquittal votes of McConnell & others. I think each senator should be judged on their own merits, taking into account the particular statements they've made (not just their votes).
