re: #195 KGxvi

I keep going back and forth on whether there should be wide ranging articles of impeachment or if it should be narrow.

An argument against a wide scope impeachment trial with many different articles of impeachment is that it gives the GOP the ability to save Trump while also voting to convict. The theory would basically be this:

1. we have 12 articles of impeachment for everything from abuse of power to obstruction of justice to nepotism to whatever
2. Dems vote to convict on all or a significant number of the charges
3. Republicans in the Senate split their vote, so 10 vote for this article but not that, 6 or 7 vote for that article but not these
4. End result is 55-63 Senators voting to convict and remove on 12 articles but none get to the magic number of 67

A narrow impeachment makes it harder for Senate Republicans to play that game. But it also sets Trump up to argue that all the other stuff he did was just fine and dandy

getting away with it isnt the same as fine and dandy
as we all know, not being charged (or caught) doesnt mean no crime was committed

it’s also not a precedent or any kind of carte blanche for presidents down the line to engage in teh same behavior. the political aspect to all of this - how he might end up ‘getting away with it’ is something that cant be ignored