The Impeachment Trial

The Washington Post Print Facility

Newspapers. The presses are big. They're noisy. And when they roll, you can feel them through the floor. That's why they're usually somewhere off in the hinterlands instead of in the big, busy office buildings where reporters write 'em.

The Post  prides itself on its dependable home delivery time of 6 a.m. or earlier. Hah!

I bet it was in subscribers' driveways alright. And maybe by 6 a.m., but I bet it didn't have the full rundown of D.C.'s Main Event. The paper has to be at the distribution center by 2:15 a.m. to make the 6 o'clock delivery. The Impeachment Trial went until about 2 a.m. D.C. time (Midnight Colorado time.)
Ain't no way the Washington Post, or any other print newspaper, could even report the actual time Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts finally graveled the proceedings into recess. Guess folks are just going to have to join the 21st Century and get their news online.

I watched it live on TV. (Thank you PBS.) It certainly went past my bedtime and I bet past the bedtimes of many of the Senators. Lord, some of them are even older than me.

What I saw and heard:
    The Senate Chamber was full of Senators. (Pretty much Senators, only. It's not usually full unless they're taking a vote. You normally see one Senator or another at the lectern reading their speech to a virtually empty room.
     And it was quiet. The Senators weren't allowed to talk except during recesses. They are known to visit with each other, normally. You know, discuss, persuade, tell jokes, gossip -- even, or maybe especially, during a vote when at least a quorum is presumed to be there. (That's 51 of the 100 Senators.)
      It was all very formal and decorous. Representative Jerry Nadler was the only one who came right out and called Trump's lawyers liars. I don't know that that was what drew the reprimand from Chief Justice Roberts. He directed the reprimand at both parties. The Trump lawyers didn't call anybody out with the term lie. They just lied, but I'm not sure that's an infraction of courtesy in the Senate.
      Really different than what I've seen of the British Parliament. I don't know that I've ever heard any of them call each other liars, but they are certainly noisy and disruptive. But, now that I think about it, I think I've only seen video of the House of Commons. And mostly during Brexit at that. Maybe the House of Lords is different.
   
The Democrats entered umpteen amendments to the rules the Republicans have established for the proceedings. Each amendment was duly read out. Each side was allotted two hours to argue for or against the amendment. Then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, would move that the amendment be "tabled." (Meaning that whatever the requested change could be considered at some future time. Or not, as Representative Adam Schiff pointed out.) They would have a roll call vote, meaning that each Senator's name was called out and they responded verbally.
Most of the amendments were requests that subpoenas be issued for various and sundry documents and witnesses.
There were no surprises. With one exception, the votes to table were 53 yeas and 47 nays. Hmmm. How many Republicans are in the Senate? Oh, yeah. 53. There are 45 Democrats and 2 Independents who caucus with the Dems.
Formalized deniability! Keeping in mind, one-third of these folks are up for reelection this year. Their jobs are on the line. They didn't vote against having witnesses or documents. They just voted to table the requirement to have witnesses or documents.
The one exception? Senator Susan Collins of Maine. She voted with the Democrats to increase the amount of time for responses to written motions from two hours to twenty-four hours. Written motions are due Wednesday morning. Gosh, I think the deadline for motions was 8 a.m. D.C. time, two and a half hours before my time right now.
Two hours to respond! Senate staffers have their work cut out for them. And on little or no sleep, at that.

Besides not being allowed to talk while the trial is in session, the Senators can't have any kind of electronic device -- no cell phones, iPads. Nada. They're only allowed to drink water or milk. (I don't know that the kind of milk is specified. Cow's milk? Goat's milk? Almond milk? Oat milk?)

They started at 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and went until almost 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. They were allowed a 30-minute dinner break and periodic 15-minute breaks. If they need a potty-break, they must use the cloak room. (I assume there are facilities in the cloak room.) The point is, they're not to be leaving the chamber and wandering in the halls or falling asleep in some out-of-the-way corner.

And those English Royals think they've got it bad!

Am I going to watch the rest in real time? Don't think so. Think I'll just read about it in the newspapers. Online.