All eyes will be on the Senate Tuesday, as the impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump begins.
To say Democrats face a long shot in convicting him is an understatement, as it would take over a dozen Republican Senators to change their minds suddenly and risk their political future to even come close to providing the 17 guilty votes that would be needed from Republicans.
It’s not going to happen. What will happen is a dog and pony show where Democrats will try to show that Trump was responsible for turning a protest in Washington D.C., on January 6 into a full-fledged riot, that culminated with people breaking into the Capitol building and causing enough chaos where five people eventually lost their life.
The House impeached Trump on January 13th for the second time, setting up the first time a president has had it to him twice during his term. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will be the lead House impeachment manager, and his job is straightforward, but darn near impossible; somehow persuade two-thirds of the Senate to convict Trump for inciting the riot.
One of the obstacles facing the Democrats is the fact that many Republican senators don’t believe this impeachment trial is even legal. There’s also little support from President Joe Biden, who would rather see the Senate spend the week passing his coronavirus relief package and other legislative initiatives he’s laid out since he took office.
Trump will stay in Florida during the trial, unable to tweet his reactions of course but most likely following the developments on television.
The first order of business Tuesday is spent on Trump’s legal team and the impeachment managers from the House being able to share a total of four hours to make their case for the constitutionality of the trial. All that’s needed from that Tuesday is a simple majority. Most likely that will occur, and the actual trial would begin on Wednesday, with each side getting 16 hours to state their case.
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