PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Revulsion

Definition:  a strong feeling of repugnance, distaste, or dislike

Horrific

Definition:  Causing horror

Criminal

Definition:  Guilty of crime

Those three words – revulsion, horrific, criminal – raced through my mind yesterday as I watched day 2 of the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.  No doubt you could find more words to describe the carnage of the riot Trump ordered and fomented.  But those above will do…for now.

If you listened closely to House of Representatives managers in the Senate, there was only one conclusion:  Trump is guilty.

If the proceeding would have been in a court of law and I was on the jury, I would convict Trump in a second.  What I saw and heard in the presentation was almost too much believe for someone – me – who has been involved in government for more than 40 years.  Disagreement is one thing.  Intentional insurrection is another.

Retired Senator Claire McCaskill put it very well the other day when she said that there comes a time for all elected officials to decide issues that could adversely affect their next election.  That, she said, is a time to vote your conscience.

I hope senators will vote their conscience a few days from now.  And, if they do, that means conviction of Trump, regardless of how it affects their own election prospects.

Consider these perceptions from David Frum, writing in The Atlantic Magazine:

“The rioters came just 58 steps away from fleeing senators, and within feet of the hiding vice president.  Today’s Senate impeachment proceedings told horror stories—and detailed just how close of a call the January 6 attack truly was.

“Up until now, the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump has mostly been a big procedural squabble.  But today, grainy security footage offered a visceral reminder of the stakes at hand.

“There is no defense—only complicity.  The remorseless, crushing power of the House managers’ evidence, all backed by horrifying real-time audio and video recordings, shuttered any good-faith defense of Trump on the merits of the case.”

Or these from Washington Post writer Dana Milbank:

“Trump’s apologists seem willing to excuse just about anything, even though the impeachment managers are laying out in minute detail the damning evidence showing how the former president conceived, organized, fomented and refused to call off the murderous invasion of the Capitol by his supporters.  Republican senators seem not to care how close the insurrectionists came to assassinating Vice President Mike Pence (who we now know was hiding in the Capitol the entire time of the attack) and killing or taking hostage senators and members of the House.”

Pictures of the hanging noose near the Capitol steps left an indelible picture of what Trump’s rioters wanted to do to Vice President Mike Pence.  And they came close to succeeding, perhaps only feet from him.

Still, I am still not certain whether the dramatic and effective House manager presentation will change many Republican votes in the Senate.  Perhaps some, but not enough to convict. 

Pro-Trump observer, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, summarized the situation – I think accurately — when he told Wall Street Journal late yesterday:

“The footage is horrific.  They (the House managers) spent a great deal of time focusing on the horrific acts of violence that were played out by the criminals, but the language from the president doesn’t come close to meeting the legal standard for incitement.”

On the other hand, lead House manager, Maryland Representative Jami Raskin, put it very well when he said, “if what Trump did does not amount to an impeachable offense, then nothing does.”

Revulsion.  Horrific.  Criminal.

Yes.