Senate trial not that interesting for some
Many seemed to shrug off the second impeachment trial of former President Trump.
People in south and southwest suburban public squares Wednesday seemed to shrug off the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
Several visitors to a popular Palos Township forest preserve and the busy Cook County courthouse in Markham reacted with indifference when asked their opinion about Trump’s impeachment.
Many said they had no opinion. Some said they were unaware of the trial, which began this week. Several indicated they just wanted to move on and put the events of the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol behind them.
Perhaps people were reluctant to linger in the cold. The temperature was 12 degrees at Swallow Cliff Woods, one of the more popular destinations in the Forest Preserves of Cook County system.
During good weather, crowds flock to the preserve to climb stairs for exercise. The parking lot is often filled to capacity. On Wednesday, however, only a handful of visitors braved the cold.
Few were willing to stop and share their thoughts on the topic of the impeachment trial. Maybe they were leery of a journalist asking questions.
Trump, after all, spent years telling his followers that mainstream media peddled fake news and that members of the free press were enemies of the people.
Jim Graham, 58, of Tinley Park, kindly took a moment to talk as he walked toward the stairs from the parking lot.
“From the evidence I’ve seen, I think he’s guilty,” Graham said.
Ten Republicans joined all 222 Democrats when the House voted Jan. 13 to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection. Impeachment is a political exercise, as opposed to a criminal proceeding.
The Senate is now holding a trial. Several people Wednesday expressed the view that the proceeding seemed irrelevant since Trump has already left office, having lost the election to Joe Biden. The main point of impeachment is to remove someone from office, people said.
A two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed to convict Trump. The consensus is that while several Republicans may join Democrats in voting to convict Trump, the effort will fall short of the 67 senators needed to convict.
The Senate, however, could take a separate vote to disqualify Trump from ever again holding public office. Only a simple majority is needed for approval, according to a Reuters analysis.
A future without the possibility of Trump running again for president would seem to indicate that the impeachment trial does indeed matter.
Some indicated that they cared about democracy, justice and accountability for the Jan. 6 violence that left five dead, including a police officer. It was just so exhausting following Trump, they said. Even without his tweets anymore, they felt fatigued about politics in general, they said.
I asked a man if he was watching any of the trial.
“No,” he said. “I may try to catch 45 seconds on CNN tonight.”
That’s about all many people need, a quick summary of the day’s events so they can continue going about their daily lives. Such replies leave little room for follow-up questions about the emotional 13-minute video that House impeachment managers showed Tuesday.
Many who watched to video were moved, some to tears, others to anger. They watched people dying and others severely injured. They saw an angry mob storm the seat of government in an effort to overturn the results of a free and fair election through the use of fear and force.
Some saw the event as a grave threat to the future of our nation’s democracy. Others seemed to react with a collective, “Meh.”
The video showed Trump speaking at a rally the day of the insurrection.
The trial is about the events of Jan. 6, but also about how Trump for years laid the groundwork that the only way he could lose an election would be if it was rigged against him.
Many of his supporters believe the election was unfair because mail-in voting was expanded to accommodate people reluctant to vote in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Stop the steal,” Trump repeatedly told his supporters.
Most Republicans in Congress have done little to dissuade Trump’s supporters of the notion that the election was stolen from Trump. Most elected Republicans seem afraid of offending Trump and his followers.
Outside the Cook County Courthouse in Markham, Lorenzo Brandon of Dolton said the impeachment trial posed a difficult dilemma for Trump and the nation.
“Trump, he knows right from wrong,” Brandon said. “You know you can’t start stuff like that, though.”
Brandon seemed to say he thought evidence supported the charge that Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6 violence and the broader effort to overturn results of the election.
But what should be the consequences? There appears to be little agreement on that point. For the most part, opinions seem to fall along partisan lines.
People have debated politics in public squares for centuries. Citizens in ancient Greece would debate their democracy. Free men could voice their opinions. Women, slaves and others had no voice.
The timeless aspect of political conflict came to mind when a woman named Sue paused to share her view as she headed into the Markham courthouse. She declined to give her last name or allow her picture to be taken.
“Politicians are continuing to divide the country,” she said.
The political class thrives when commoners fight among themselves about race, religion, wealth and other matters, she said.
“If the politicians keep dividing us, we don’t unite,” Sue said.
Most people want the same things, she said.
“They want the ability to work, they want the ability to have constitutional rights, they want the ability to live free,” she said.
Most politicians are only looking out for themselves, she said.
“If we unite on those same causes we’d throw all the politicians out and we’d have people who represent us,” she said.
Wednesday’s small, unscientific sampling of opinions about the impeachment trial produced a few takeaways. One is that it appears unlikely the trial will change many minds. People appear to accept the evidence and what it means, or they ignore it.
Another takeaway is that political divisions seem likely to continue. One should expect bruising battles for congressional majorities in the 2022 midterms and for the presidency in 2024. That is, unless a major, unforeseen event like the 9/11 terrorist attacks causes Americans to set aside their differences.
There will probably be a lot more shouting about radicals on the left and extremists on the right and not enough listening by anyone.
Many are tired of all the arguing all the time, so they retreat and tune out the noise. Can you blame them?