Feeling despair about the Senate trial

I have been pessimistic about our Republic since November 8, 2016, but there has always seemed to be some glimmer of hope I could hang onto. Now that the Senate is poised to acquit Donald Trump without calling witnesses, it's hard not to despair.

Indeed, the Senate, even when acknowledging Trump's guilt, have made it clear that they will acquit him because they can.

My only hope now is that enough of the electorate is as tired as I am of a government that does all its business in secret, and enacts policies against the expressed will of the people.

In addition to Mitch McConnell's desperate efforts to hide the evidence against the president, he has also done other underhanded things. You'll recall that the Republicans managed to pass a tax bill without any debate, and without revealing, even to their own party members, what was in it. And, of course, you'll recall McConnell's shameful denial of a hearing for Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

It is going to be very difficult to elect a Democratic president, and to get a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, because of Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression. And Citizens United. And Russian election meddling. It has been pointed out by Ian Millhiser that the fifty-one senators who just voted against hearing witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial represent fewer constituents than the forty-nine senators who voted for witnesses. And we already know that the Electoral College doesn't work.

There is a trove of evidence that the Republicans are refusing to consider, some of which will be revealed in John Bolton's upcoming book, and much more of which Lev Parnas is willing to deliver.

Even with all that evidence, faced with a Republican Party that values power above democracy, keeping our democratic institutions intact will be an uphill battle.