Week 167 - The Trial Begins

This week the Senate impeachment trial of Donald  J. Trump began, even as evidence continued to trickle out. House  Democrat impeachment managers made their case for the two articles over  three days, laying out their argument with an intricate presentation and  appealing to Republicans’ better angels to put partisanship aside for  the sake of preserving our fragile democracy. As the week came to a  close, it appeared Senate Republicans were unwilling to do so. The atmosphere of the largely obfuscated Senate  chamber was described as that of an elementary school classroom, with  Senate Republicans joking and, at times, leaving the chamber in  violation of Senate rules while Democrats were speaking. It was unclear  by week’s end if Republicans would heed the polling which consistently  showed the overwhelming majority of Americans wanted to hear from  first-hand witnesses. At the start of the trial, Trump visited Davos,  Switzerland for the World Economic Forum as staffers sought to portray  him as a hard working president above the fray; but as would be typical  with Trump’s trips abroad, he quickly devolved into making outlandish  statements and insulting U.S. allies. On Wednesday, as he returned to  Washington, Trump was sending a record volume of tweets and fuming over  impeachment and that his defense would be presenting on Saturday, the  “death valley” of television ratings. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-167/