STOP DREAMING THAT DEMOCRATS CAN HACK THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

A couple of days ago in The Washington Post, Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman published a piece called "On Impeachment, Democrats Can Put Republicans on Defense. Here’s How." They wrote this about the upcoming Senate trial:

Democrats could demand that the mountains of documents the administration refused to turn over to the House impeachment inquiry be admitted as evidence at the Senate trial. The administration stonewalled those documents on the absurd grounds that the inquiry was illegitimate.

But McConnell presumably can’t argue that his own impeachment trial is illegitimate, rendering that excuse a dead letter.

So Democrats could insist that the administration produce some of these documents during the trial.

Now Chuck Schumer is demanding documents, as well as a number of key witnesses. But Sargent and Waldman's premise is flawed. McConnell can argue that his own impeachment trial is illegitimate. He's doing that openly right now. He's doing it by making clear that the trial will be short and that he's coordinating his strategy with Trump's defense team in the White House.

McConnell isn't even attempting to hide his trial-rigging, and the public sees what he and his House Republican colleagues are doing, as the latest Fox poll makes clear.

The American people think that it’s the Republicans who are playing politics with impeachment, much more than they think the Democrats are doing so, by a good margin. Via latest FOX News poll: pic.twitter.com/SECFDtWuGp

— Nick Gourevitch (@nickgourevitch) December 15, 2019

But it's not a problem for Republican voters. They want McConnell to rig the trial, because they think the whole process is illegitimate.

So you can't shame McConnell. Schumer should try to make demands, just to get the unfairness of the process on the record, but no one should expect Democrats to find a way to hack this process.

The suggestion made by John Dean wouldn't be a successful hack either:

“Let’s impeach him now and NOT send it to the Senate rather keep investigating in the House, and add such supplemental articles as needed!” Dean wrote on Twitter this weekend. “Just let it hang over his head. If the worst happens and he is re-elected, send it to the Senate. But keep investigating!!”

... It’s ... a great idea because -- by impeaching Trump and not sending the articles to the Senate for a trial -- it allows Democrats to hold the trial over the head of the president for the rest of his term.

Trump won't care. He'll portray an aborted impeachment as a non-impeachment. He'll say Democrats got cold feet because they knew they were going to lose in the Senate. (Right and wrong don't matter to Trump or to Trump's base, only winning and losing.) Sure, he'll say the same thing about his inevitable Senate acquittal, but by that time Democrats will have made the case that Trump is guilty. The proceedings in the House have persuaded most of America that that's the case:

Fox News Poll: Has the President abused power? Obstructed Congress? Committed bribery?#FNS #FoxNews #Polls #Impeachment pic.twitter.com/vSCha4ZF42

— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) December 15, 2019

Now that impeachment is under way, force Trump to endure the House vote and the Senate trial. Let him squirm -- the shame is getting to him. He'll beat the rap and claim victory, but damage will be done.

And yes, keep investigating. If the worst happens and Trump is reelected, impeach the SOB again.