Go Figure

Yesterday, Donald Trump made three significant additions to the defense team for his impeachment trial.  Two of those are well-known in legal circles: Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz.

Among the cases contributing to the reputations of Dershowitz and Starr is the defense of Jeffrey Epstein.

An Electoral College Landslide

The self-identified very stable genius Donald Trump, who, in 2016 believed the United States should make money off of everything, claims to have received a landslide in the Electoral College in that same year.  Truthful hyperbole aside, Mr. Trump, and any Presidential candidate in future, may not be able to match that.

It's anticipated that, in 2020, SCOTUS will hear two cases having to do with the rules governing the Electoral College, and specifically, pertaining to what have been called faithless electors.

Mr. Trump may want to re-think his label for his election.  He did indeed win the electoral college.  But it wasn't a landslide.  It takes a minimum of 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency.  Three-plus years ago, Trump got 304.  That means he earned more electoral votes than George W Bush in 2000 and 2004, but considerably fewer than Barack Obama in 2008, which almost certainly bites his backside big-time.

Act First, Then Lawyer Up

The impeachment trial of Donald John Trump began today.  Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in as presiding over the event.  He then swore in Senators who will act as jury during the trial.

Opening statements by prosecutors (AKA House Managers:) and defense attorneys (names not yet known specifically) will commence in the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on Tuesday January 21 at 1:00 PM.

Any thoughts as to what new evidence might come to light in the next 100 + hours?

On Oath or Affirmation

Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6 of our Constitution describes why and how the Senate conducts trials of impeachment.  As Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 65, the ability of a court of impeachment to affect the lives and futures of even the most distinguished members of a community forbids giving that responsibility to only a small group of people.

Any impeachment trial must meet three requirements:

1. that participating Senators be on Oath or Affirmation, in order to impress upon them the extreme seriousness of the occasion
2. that the Chief Justice preside over presidential impeachment trials; to underscore the solemnity of the occasion, and to avoid the possible conflict of interest of a Vice President's presiding over the removal of a President
3. that a  supermajority be needed to convict and remove from office

Imminent Since June

According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump made the right call regarding Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, and America is safer as a result.  Trouble is, Pompeo's definition of imminent is no more correct than Trump's.  For instance, merriam-webster.com suggests imminent as a synonym for the phrase around the corner.

NBC News reported today that Mr. Trump requested and received intelligence on taking out Soleimani as early as June of 2019.  Whatever conditions might have been placed on that advice, January 2020 is hardly around the corner from June 2019.

Stigma

If anyone still takes Donald Trump seriously, or thinks him to be at all fit for the job he holds, consider this tweet from him today.

Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, no pressure Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have.  I agree!

That qualifies as Newspeak .  Like the language George Orwell created for Oceania, a fictional totalitarian state, Trump's tweets seek to diminish the range of thought, thereby making it easier to control.  Translating from Newspeak, the tweet above says  that only throwing out the impeachment charges altogether will placate Mr. Trump, who complained today about the stigma. that accompanies the charges.

In this tweet, we have yet another instance of Trump vacillating between an effort to appear presidential, and his fervent wish that the reality of his performance in office should disappear.