Impeachment trial reminds me not to care
As a teenager in the 1990s, my attention to politics and world events was onand- off, mostly off. I almost always had “more important” things to think, like my latest crush on a girl or my dreaded algebra homework.
Only a few events briefly punctured my self-contained bubble. One of those was the start of the first Gulf War in 1991. I still remember being at a church function when the news was announced, and everyone bowing their heads in solemn silence. Another was the conclusion of the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995. I’ll never forget my classmates and I being taken out of class and led into the library so we could watch the verdict live. There was a surprisingly robust debate between my friend and I about Simpson’s guilt or innocence (he was guilty). One supposedly historic event I have only miniscule memories of is the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. That all got started in the latter half of 1998, when I was in my freshmen year of college. By the time the verdict came down in early 1999, I cared more about my secondsemester class load than I did about the roll call vote in the U.S. Senate.
As the impeachment trial begins against President Trump, I feel myself regressing to that tuned-out young adult who doesn’t feel compelled to pay attention to daily coverage of proceedings in a stuffy Senate chamber. Though the revelations keep coming in the Ukrainian scandal, the actual trial itself seems like an overwrought foregone conclusion.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has all but promised to deliver a “not guilty” verdict, and Democrats, as the minority party in the Senate, are mostly powerless to create a different outcome. It’s been pointed out many times: an impeachment trial is not like a criminal trial — with an impartial jury and normal rules of evidence and testimony.
Impeachment is a political process, and like anything political, it primarily involves two partisan tribes making up their minds based on party allegiance. Perhaps this was a mistake by our Founding Fathers, to give Congress the sole power to impeach the president. The only time in our nation’s history when impeachment actually resulted in a president leaving office is the case of President Nixon — who resigned before a vote was even taken in the House, so he actually avoided impeachment.
So let’s just fast-forward, shall we, to the end the Senate trial and get right into the final stretch of the 2020 presidential race. That’s where the real drama lies. Regardless of who the Dems nominate, voters will have a stark choice to make. By the way, I still vividly recall the highly contested 2000 election. My prediction is 2020 will be equally memorable.
OUT FOR A WALK
KEVIN O’BRIEN
EDITOR
