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I don’t think Mitch McConnell is going to allow witness, because he simply doesn’t have to. We’ve seen time and again that McConnell is willing to do the most outrageous things — stealing a Supreme Court seat comes foremost to mind — and suffers no consequences because we’re just not as good at this as he is.
I’ve worked on LGBT rights for nearly 30 years. And I remember back in the 1990s, when we were fighting to repeal the US military’s anti-gay Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, how intractable the Pentagon was simply because they had the (bigoted) courage to say “no.” There was little civil rights advocates — or Bill Clinton — could do to get the DoD brass to change its ways because they were expert at simply saying no.
Which takes us back to McConnell. The man stole a Supreme Court seat. Why wouldn’t he steal an impeachment too? Now sure, thanks to Trump, the Senate might be more in play this year than previously expected. So McConnell, and a handful of his caucus, have to be cognizant of how impeachment will play in November. But it’s a forgone conclusion that those members aren’t going to vote to convict Trump — to wit, Mitt Romney has occasional bursts of courage followed by total self-immolation, while Susan Collins is rarely more than “disappointed” just before she votes the party line. (And the notion that Lisa Murkowski is now a moderate is laughable proof as to how moderation has all but left the Republican party.)
Getting back to my earlier point about “we’re not as good at this” as McConnell. Democrats simply aren’t as good at messaging as Republicans. Yes, we have our moments, such as our successful focus on pre-existing conditions in 2018. But in the ensuing 18 months time, a good chunk of the left has pivoted from that remarkable success to proposing a massive overall of America’s healthcare system that not only won’t happen any time soon — thanks to McConnell — but which also scares many voters to death. And just ask Jeremy Corbyn how many radical proposals he got implemented after he lost the national election.
What all this means in practice is that Democrats likely won’t do a very good job of hanging impeachment around the necks of Collins and her squad of ignominy, while the Republicans will do an amazing job of spinning impeachment as a partisan witch hunt, effectively getting Collins et. al. off the hook. (You can donate to help defeat Susan Collins here.)
The one silver lining: Sure, all of this will motivate Democrats all the more to vote in November. And that is sincerely a good thing. But it won’t get Donald Trump convicted in the Senate, and it won’t let John Bolton to testify.
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