RIP

 Today's acquittal of Donald Trump in the senate impeachment trial was a foregone conclusion. That's politics. At the same time, however, I do believe that Trump is ruined as a national political figure, and it was, of all people, Mitch McConnell who placed the final black rose on the grave. In the words of one news commentator, the condemnation expressed by McConnell exceeded in force even that of senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. Of course, McConnell proceeded to make a weak, apologetic defense of his vote to acquit, but even then took care to add (and one might say to "advise") that Trump could and should be held accountable by the legal processes outside the senate, such as those controlled by the new attorney general and by the individual states. It was an acquittal, in short, only on narrow constitutional terms--a dishonest argument, but the only one he had. It is of course encouraging as well that the vote in the senate was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history, both in the house of representatives and in the senate. It was appropriate as well, I think, to point out, as Mitch did, that 74 million Trump voters did not come to capital, but only a relatively small group of extremists, some of whom, as was discovered in the days following the event, hadn't voted at all. These people will be with us no matter how the senate happens to vote on anything, because they are essentially opposed to democratic government itself. So, overall, although disappointed by the vote to acquit, I cannot help but see a silver lining here in that it was quite clear that almost no one, including those who voted for acquittal, thought Trump innocent in the matter of the insurrection.