Republican senators are Trump’s ‘jury of accomplices’ during his second impeachment trial: conservative

In order for former President Donald Trump to be convicted in his second impeachment trial, all 50 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and at least 17 Republican senators will need to vote "guilty" — and countless pundits have lamented that the chances of that many GOP senators voting against Trump are slim and none. Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes discusses the trial's likely outcome in his February 11 column for The Bulwark, slamming pro-Trump Republicans in the U.S. Senate as "a jury of accomplices."

"Try not to laugh. Or cry," Sykes writes. "As we watch the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, there are two things to keep in mind: There is always a reason not to do the right thing. And there is always a way to justify looking away."

Following the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building by a violent mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists, Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for "incitement to insurrection" — making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. Trump's impeachment trial commenced on Tuesday, February 9, and Sykes applauds Democratic House impeachment managers for the damning case they have presented against the former president.

"The evidence is overwhelming, and the House managers are doing an extraordinarily good job of connecting the dots," Sykes writes. "Yesterday, they used new video to make it graphically clear that Donald Trump: (1) stoked the fire by lying about the election, (2) summoned the mob, (3) incited the assault on the Capitol, (4) failed to condemn it even once, (5) tweeted attacks on VP Mike Pence even as he sheltered in place, (6) was derelict in his duty, and (7) afterward, celebrated the insurrection. This ought to test the capacity of even the most hardened Trumpist to deny the enormity of Trump's conduct."

The impeachment managers, Sykes adds, have demonstrated that the extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 "would have assaulted and perhaps murdered" former Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer if they had been able to get to them. Regardless, the conservative pundit adds, most Senate Republicans will end up voting "not guilty" — and that includes GOP senators who promoted Trump's bogus and totally debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"Why won't the Senate convict Trump?," Sykes writes. "Just look around the room. Many of those jurors are not just complicit — they are actual accomplices to Trump's deep lie."