U.S. Senate casts vote for nihilism
9 p.m., January 31, 2020
Here I’ve been working intermittently for weeks on drafts of Part III of Treading into Darkness—researching the effects of social media—and now the Senate Republicans (almost all of them) have made easy work of this installment. One of the most ugly gifts that has ever been handed to me.
The impact of the vote not to allow witnesses or documents in the impeachment trial is far broader than a judgment upon the person of Donald Trump. What the Senate has just done can be used henceforward by the executive branch to shield it from any investigation by Congress being performed in a timely fashion. That’s because the task of taking the subpoenas through the courts while being continuously obstructed can take months or even years. That’s exactly what the administration has been counting on with their refusal to turn over documents since last fall.
I can’t see the vote by the Republicans representing anything better than a descent into nihilism. Truth doesn’t matter, justice doesn’t matter, the checks and balances we thought were built into the Constitution don’t matter, the will of the American people (75% wanted witnesses) doesn’t matter, the idea that no one in America is above the law has just been completely trashed. And government by a gang of thugs has been validated.
Continue reading “Senate Republicans 51, America 0 – Part III of Treading into Darkness”