The “questions phase” last night was largely Democrat Senators submitting to the House impeachment traducers and Republican Senators submitting to the Constitution’s defenders. We watched for a couple hours. The Democrat questions to House managers seemed particularly scripted as the responses were so ready and lengthy, designed to fill up the allotted response time. Questions from opposites to opposites for the most part seemed gotcha type, and answers seemed rehashes. But some were useful to fill in gaps or point to key elements deserving of emphasis.
We hope some of the questions from Republicans served to put Democrats on notice. You want witnesses, if you push it you might get them and they will include the Biden crime family and the whistleblower and any others the Republican majority deems useful to make their case. Democrats must understand they are not in charge in that chamber.
At this point this writer is not concerned about testimony from John Bolton. From what we know about his comments, logically, constitutionally, they are of no import. Anybody listening to the Trump managers conversant with American History and the Constitution will be unfazed. Reasonable questions to him will expose him as petty and grubby.
Even with dominant media presentations in the tank for Democrats (they are absolutely despicable as biased journalists), we believe Democrats have more to lose in this game from witnesses that Republicans can call. Nor are we concerned about further delays IF the Senate majority limits the witness part to no more than say four days. I would throw in a day for summations from the Trump defense only, as the prosecutors have already had ample time.
That said, we also appreciate that “Bolton” can be fixed by allowing a subpoena of relevant passages of his book to the Senate. Combined with the record of his saying nothing at the time of the Trump / Ukraine conversations in question, that would serve to expose him as well as any testimony.
