Trump’s Second Trial Confirms All is Not Well in Washington

Much ado about nothing, or is it the sound and the fury, signifying nothing?

Photo by Tyler Merbler, Flickr and Wikimedia.org, modified by author

In the next few days, all of us who are interested will get a chance to watch video of the January 6 assault on the Capitol and the Trump speech that incited it. The scenes, some of which may be new footage, will reignite our anger and demands for accountability. We may hope that a miracle will happen. Or that Trump will be convicted.

Photo: Official portrait by by Shealah Craighead modified by author

This won’t happen. Forty-five Republican Senators have already tipped their hand. They found a convenient excuse not to vote to convict Trump. Just say the trial itself is unconstitutional. This claim is, of course, without foundation. It will suffice, however, to help the nervous legislators slip out the back door. When asked about why Trump wasn’t convicted, they can claim that they would have so voted had the trial itself not been bogus.

What we have here is political theater. The show is part comedy and part tragedy. The spectacle of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, newly elected Tommy Tuberville, and others defending a traitor will have an element of comedy in it. What type…