Impeachment Trial 2, Day 1

I tuned into the Trump impeachment trial yesterday long enough to hear solid, strong arguments for the constitutionality of Trump's trial and conviction from House impeachment managers Joe Neguse (D-CO) and David Cicilline (D-RI) on setting a precedent to hold lame-duck Presidents accountable for unlawful actions they have committed just before their departure from office, with a powerful video and equally powerful personal testimony from the lead manager, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), to match.  When Trump defense attorney Bruce Castor started his opening statement with a lone, longwinded soliloquy, about what exceptional people U.S. Senators are and how he learned that as a boy from listening to his parents' copy of a record of the speeches of Everett Dirksen, I checked out and ended up doing something more interesting and less painful - calling to request and verify free credit reports. 

President Biden is wisely avoiding the impeachment trial.  He's busy this week handing the virus and the vaccine rollouts and conferring with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to show the executive branch is going full tilt boogie to end the COVIC-19 pandemic (which may take longer than this year to accomplish).  He's "counterprogramming" against the impeachment trial, though the cable news channels are concentrating squarely on the trial with the COVID crisis settling not or second billing in the news but not getting any notice at all.  But despite that, President Biden has taken himself out of any story related to Trump, which will allow Americans to see him as the real, legitimate, incumbent President.

Once the trial ends.       

The Senate voted 56-44 to continue with the trial on the grounds that it is constitutional to try an ex- President who was impeached before leaving office.  U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was the only Republican to join the other five Republicans who had earlier voted to have that debate sooner.  Despite the impressive performance of the House impeachment managers and the pathetic performance of Trump's lawyers, the chances of a Trump convection are about as good as the COVID pandemic being declared over next week.