A Thought Experiment for Republican Senators
Dear Senate Republicans,
Imagine, if you will, the following scenario: the final votes are tallied and Trump is acquited. Adam Schiff takes the podium for his final remarks, a wailing siren goes off, confetti and balloons fly about the Senate chamber and Schiff announces, "You've been punk'd!" From behind a curtain step Nancy Pelosi walking hand-in-hand with Rudy Giuliani, followed by Mick Mulvaney, Fiona Hill, Marie Yovanovitch, Gordon Sondland, and so on and so on. All are laughing and pointing and miming "Gotcha!" at all of you. Finally, out step Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump himself. Schiff waves Trump to the podium, and the president begins to speak:
"As you all have possibly guessed, this whole Ukraine affair has been an elaborate joke. As a lifelong Democrat and fighter of corruption, I wanted to drain the Washington swamp and I knew that the best place to start was this once august body. You all should've gotten a clue when I kept sending you misfits and miscreants for judicial appointments, when I passed the 14,000-lies mark, and most of all when I engaged in this overt, in-your-face charade of bribery/extortion with my buddy Vlod here. To top it off, I refused to allow testimony or the release of documents—I had 'guilty' written all over me! Could it have been more obvious? But you fell for it, hook, line and sinker, just as I bet you would." Pelosi hands him a dollar bill. "With all your highfalutin oratory and outrage at the Democrats, who were just doing their patriotic duty, for all you pretense of faith in God and country and the Constitution, you decided it was easier, and safer for you, to let a madman have his way and commit crime after crime after crime after crime..." his voice trails off and his aspect grows solemn. "Now that you've all been exposed for the craven, self-serving violators of the public trust that you are, your political careers are over. No one will even elect you dogcatcher after this! And I did what I promised: I drained the swamp!"
Now this is just a thought experiment; it's not going to turn out quite that way, but imagine how you would feel in that moment, after that vote, if it did. Now how do you think you should feel when you do vote against removal, as is already planned? Should your embarrassment, your sense of crushing moral defeat, your self-loathing be any less?
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