No super weekend for Democrats with Trump’s expected acquittal

Anyone wondering why Nancy Pelosi was reluctant for all those months to go ahead with impeachment will see her deepest fears played out this weekend.

With the acquittal of Donald Trump by defiant Senate Republicans expected next Wednesday, downcast Democrats will need the bravest of faces to just get through the next few days.

Politically, the preordained acquittal in many ways is Mueller Report 2.0, evidence without a conviction. The president and his supporters are sure to be crowing.

On Super Bowl Sunday, for example, a triumphant president will sit with Hannity for a Fox interview before a huge TV audience. 

On Monday, the highly anticipated Democratic Iowa caucus will be forced to share media coverage with the new perfunctory closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial.

Then on Tuesday night, Republicans will no doubt be hooting and hollering from their side of the aisle as Trump delivers his third State of the Union address to an electorate mostly numbed by the recent spectacle. The GOP’s final “yes-he-did-it-but-so-what?” defense — which really has no basis in law or common sense — nonetheless prevailed.

On Wednesday? A final vote on impeachment, which barring some twist from beyond, will find the president acquitted.

Democrats lost the game

True, Trump’s record will always include the historic ink blot of an impeachment, but so will his reputation as a tough guy who once again beat the rap. Will his speech Tuesday night include the very unstatesmanlike phrases such as “witchhunt” and “hoax”? 

Or will Democrats be able to paint the GOP as corrupt enablers. A “sham trial,’’ complained a dispirited Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Not an acquittal’’ insisted Pelosi, previewing the Democratic spin.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks during her weekly press conference on Jan. 30, 2020. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

All this was foreseeable, certainly by Pelosi who believed impeachment without an overwhelming case would be a risky proposition. At the same time, had Democrats not impeached, Pelosi and the party would have faced a revolt from within.

National security risk: Trump’s bogus case against impeachment witnesses: No national security secrets are at risk

So Democrats opted for a surgical strike, helped by Trump’s seemingly unlawful decision to involve a foreign government in American politics. A quick impeachment, even a losing one, they thought, would hold off party activists and everyone could move on to 2020, the point made. But the timing, it turned out, could not have been worse.

National security risk: Trump’s bogus case against impeachment witnesses: No national security secrets are at risk

It’s hard to overshadow what should be a great game in Miami between the defense-heavy San Francisco 49ers and the miracle-comeback Kansas City Chiefs, but somehow the Democrats managed to do it with their impeachment Hail Mary pass.

Unlike Watergate, there is no somber quartet of Republicans at the 11th hour ready to tell the president he has lost all support. Nor is the Supreme Court a player. Democrats were reluctant to bring their subpoenas to the courts, thereby dragging the process through an election year. Note that 2020 hopefuls rarely pushed the impeachment narrative, though they will use the findings going forward.

This is not to say Democratic and Independent voters won’t be energized by all this. Maybe new polls will show growing outrage at this outcome. There was overwhelming public support for witnesses, turned down 51-49 by Republican senators.

Senator’s voice: Marsha Blackburn: I won’t be a ‘useful contrarian’ for Democrats in Trump impeachment trial

But for all the pushback, Trump and his supporters will ride a self-satisfied wave of vindication for the next few days and well into the election. And Democrats will need to hope memories are short and just get through Super Bowl half time, hoping the facts of their case can fare better with voters than they did in the Senate.

David Colton is a former executive editor at USA TODAY. Follow him on Twitter: @DColtonNow

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