THE TRIAL IS OVER, THE MADNESS CONTINUES – AT 4:30 P.M. ET:  The Democrats will move on to find some new way to hate Donald Trump.  The Republicans will try to keep their party together.  From Fox: 

There was a palpable sense of relief in Washington as the Trump impeachment trial came to a chaotic but final end. The verdict is in so now the vilification can begin.

Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., immediately weaponized the verdict and demonized those who voted to acquit. While the Democrats insisted that all senators should "vote their conscience," that only meant if their conscience supported their side. Pelosi denounced opposing senators as cowards while Schumer lashed out at them for holding an opposing view of the evidence or the process.

While groups are targeting members on both sides, our leaders should be calling for unity and civility after the trial. Instead, they are fueling the politics of division.

CNN and other media followed suit. While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., denounced former President Trump and said that he could still be held accountable for any crimes, CNN hosts Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash immediately followed his speech by denouncing him as hypocritical.

There was nothing hypocritical in denouncing Trump's conduct as "unconscionable" while also maintaining that the trial was unconstitutional. What Democratic members and commentators would not accept is that anyone could hold opposing views on these questions and not be a shill or coward.

Welcome to unity in 2020. It remains unity on our terms or else. The "or else" was made clear to Trump's defense counsel soon after the verdict. Attorney Michael Van der Veen's home was vandalized. Other lawyers have faced harassment and threats after campaigns targeting them by groups like The Lincoln Project for representing Trump or Republicans.

The media quickly reinforced the rejection of any possibility that senators could have voted their conscience. CNN reporter Abby Phillip stated as a fact that there is no real argument that a former president cannot be tried for impeachment. Thus, any vote on that basis was dishonest and craven.

As with past coverage, the hosts simply ignored professors, judges and legendary figures like Justice Joseph Story who have argued against retroactive trials. Moreover, many academics who have studied this issue (including myself) have said that it is extremely close. While we all reach conclusions, most of us have stated that people of good faith can disagree on where the default should be on the question.

That however is not what CNN viewers were told. Phillip and her colleagues insisted that there is no real debate – as did the House managers. Thus, anyone voting with the view of figures like Justice Story are liars or cowards or lying cowards. You choose.

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  The author, Jonathan Turley, a law professor, has been a perceptive and fair-minded observer of the impeachment process, and once participated in an impeachment trial.

February 14, 2021