The Democrats wanted so much to believe. They thought they had Donald Trump dead to rights with their impeachment fantasy, but once again he wriggled out of their tenuous grip.
The death knell to their fantasy came late Friday afternoon, when the Senate voted 51-49 against introducing new witnesses and prolonging the impeachment trial. Despondent high-level Democrats reacted to the unhappy news by venting in front of news cameras, each time only to be denied their impotent rage — that feeling of intense anger that washes over a person when he feels grievously wronged but helpless to do anything about it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to get her rocks off by declaring Donald Trump “forever impeached” — in other words, permanently tainted. But then White House defense team member Alan Dershowitz spoke up and burst Pelosi’s balloon. The former Harvard Law professor said that the president was denied a fair trial, adding:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
He was indicted. And what happens if a person is acquitted after indictment? The indictment disappears. When you deny somebody due process saying, ‘Well we’re only indicting him,’ then you can’t come back and say, ‘But he’s still indicted!’
Aa if to rub salt in the Democrats’ wound, Dershowitz is himself a lifelong Democrat, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
And now another Democrat has spoken up. This time, the provider of the reality sandwich is CNN’s own Jonathan Toobin, who, when asked “what now?” dolefully declared that “Trump won.” Watch:
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin: 'Trump won' and 'that's how history will remember' this impeachment pic.twitter.com/AxxrhT9O78
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) February 1, 2020