Since Trump refused to allow key witnesses to appear at the House impeachment hearings, and since it looks like at this moment that there will be no trial and those same witnesses will not be heard, Republicans will call the House proceedings a sham and Democrats will call the Senate proceedings a sham.
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX
A number of Republicans are calling it a sham trial, including Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly:
https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/01/...half-done.html
“In my view, they kind of leave themselves open to a lot of criticism,” Kelly said in an interview with NJ Advance Media in advance of his Feb. 12 appearance at Drew University’s Drew Forum speaker series at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.
“It seems it was half a trial,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he believed former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s assertion that Trump withheld congressionally approved aid to Ukraine to pressure that government into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Bolton, who made the claims in an unpublished book reported by the New York Times, was “a copious note taker” and was “an honest guy and an honorable guy,” Kelly said.
Funny how so many of Trump's inner circle who have seen him in action up close and personally have turned on him.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/t...dministration/
His A-team has an 80% turnover rate, and a number of them like Kelly and Bolton have made statements that Trump attributes to being "disgruntled".
Why are so many of his ex-staffers disgruntled? The consensus seems to be that he is an egocentric micromanager who demands absolute loyalty and offers none in return.
It's just a matter of time before the independents who gave him a chance in 2016 realize how petty and vindictive he is and give him the boot in 2020. Trump's base wasn't large enough to put him in office, and it was independents and swing voters who put him there.
His obstruction in the impeachment inquiry will not go unnoticed by the large majority of the U.S. public that wanted to hear from the witnesses, too. That will also come back to haunt Republican senators in blue and purple states who are up for reelection.