Arsonist in Chief

Impeach, Impeach: The House’s impeachment managers rested their case yesterday. The bottom line is that although Congressman Jamie Raskin and his impressive team of impeachment managers did a thorough and impressive job detailing Trump’s despicability and criminality, it remains highly unlikely that Trump will be found guilty because at the end of the day the trial is a political exercise and far too many Republican members of the “jury” are either on board with Trump’s misdeeds and/or prioritizing their careers, including their presidential aspirations, over country even though credible concerns about future Trump inspired violence remain.  It’s particularly ironic that one of those likely not guilty voters is the frequently clueless Tommy Tuberville of Alabama who provided one of the most implicating pieces of evidence by revealing that that when he spoke to Trump during the attack, on that misdirected phone call that landed on Senator Mike Lee’s phone, he told him that he “had to go” because Pence  had just been evacuated from the chamber due to the chaos of the siege.  That’s Mike Pence who actually had the back-up nuclear football with him, that nifty piece of deadly equipment almost got intercepted by a few of those charming insurgents, the same guys who say that they were fighting for their hero Trump.  Trump’s response to learning that his VP was in danger didn’t involve sending in the cavalry despite calls from a number of Republicans including former NJ Governor Chris Christie to do so, instead he continued to jeopardize Pence’s life, tweet attacking him for failing to have the “courage” to overturn the election.  And then, even after it was known that people were dead and injured, the remorseless Trump tweeted “These are the events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away.”  As to future violence, Trump’s Washington DC hotel has raised rates for March 4 because his most dedicated followers believe that the real inauguration will take place then, that the one that was held on January 20 was just make believe. No one said that the QAnon crowd was all that into reality; violence yes, reality not so much.   

Kraken Time: Today, Trump’s lawyers who spent some quality time strategizing with “impartial” jury members Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham last night is due to present their defense.  It’s reported that their presentation will be short, that in addition to relitigating the already decided constitutionality issue, they plan to show  a video or two of the Black Lives Matter protests as well as clips from the Portland Oregon mess to “prove” that Trump’s Oath Keeper, Three Percenter and Q buddies aren’t the only ones who are disruptive. Of course, they won’t mention that the BLM demonstrations were largely peaceful, that participation of those antifa folks that Trump and his acolytes keep blaming for everything was significantly exaggerated by Trump and his then AG Barr, and that in any case, none of last summer’s demonstrations or Portland’s problems were incited by the leader of the free world. They’ll probably spin the recent arrest of some of those Oath Keepers who coordinated with other white supremacist groups, were working on a plan to ferry “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River into Washington, who had begun training for “urban warfare” in the run up to the election  and who said they had been awaiting directions from Trump as inconsequential background noise. They also plan to show a video of now Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the one where he threatened a whirlwind against Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, as proof that Trump isn’t the only one who can be threatening to make the point that threatening language shouldn’t be taken seriously. Someone should tell them that Brooklyn’s Chuck waving his arms and pontificating is more comical than threatening.  Returning to background noise, that’s how quite a few Republican Senators treated yesterday’s session, instead of paying attention they doodled, drew on maps of Asia, left the room and otherwise ignored the presentations. No point doing otherwise since with likely too few exceptions their minds are made up.

Viral Musings:  Yesterday President Biden announced that he’s finalized a deal for 200 million more vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna.  As a result, the US will have more than enough mRNA doses to vaccinate the country by the end of July without even taking into account any of the one shot ones that are likely to be approved shortly and to start flowing from J & J in March. While getting a vaccine remains frustratingly difficult for most, the US remains way ahead of Canada and most of Europe in shots administered per 100,000, in sixth place after Israel, UAE, Seychelles, UK and Bahrain.  The UK’s numbers appear better than they really are since the Brits are currently delaying most second shots.  We also learned yesterday that Trump’s encounter with COVID was more serious than had been revealed when he was whisked off to Walter Reed  which goes far towards explaining why he was bombarded with the antibody concoction that was at that point not yet available to the masses and why he also got the steroid dexamethasone which is indicated  for use on those with severe respiratory complications. It turns out that his oxygen saturation was in the 80s, that his lungs were seriously inflamed, and that his doctors thought that he might have to be put on a ventilator.  All of that probably means he’d been sick and spreading coronavirus germs during his debate with Biden.  It also makes his recovery that much more remarkable but then again he was the healthiest president ever, or so his since deceased doctor Harold Bornstein said.          

475.449 (+3685)

46,390,300 (+1,620,300) shots administered