As JJ talked about on Saturday, Moscow Mitch voted along with 42 other Republicans to acquit Trump, which was expected. What wasn’t expected was that after the vote, he got up in front of national television and then excoriated Trump for his incitement of the crowd to insurrection and even said that he could be prosecuted by state and federal authorities. He also said that it was unconstitutional for the Senate to try him, since he’s already out of office. Never mind that history, precedent, and over 200 legal scholars disagreed, this was the tree he hid behind to excuse his immoral vote to acquit.
We also have to keep in mind that McConnell always plays the long game, always focused on his own position and power. He was never going to vote to convict because doing so would start a loud mutiny and he’d be ridden out of his minority leader spot in a nanosecond. Also, politics comes first; everything else comes second. Everything. McConnell’s strategy is to create a political dilemma for Biden. McConnell always had control of the process here. He now says it was unconstitutional to try Trump after he was out of office, but HE’S the one who refused to take the case before the election. He created the problem he says in unfixable. That’s classic McConnell. Second, he says that the criminal justice system should prosecute Trump – and guess who’s shoulders that falls on? None other than Biden, who has already nominated Merrick Garland as AG. The moment Garland would dare move against Trump, McConnell would rush to the microphone to decry “criminalizing politics” and “Biden “politicizing the DOJ,” which, by the way, Trump had already done.
It’s the long game. It’s always the long game.
