I saw the impeachment verdict coming, but I still don't like it, so here's a cover of 'Everybody Knows'

I can't say I'm either surprised or disappointed in today's outcome, because I foresaw the outcome of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, when I wrote "I think it's important to at least try to keep Trump and hopefully his supporters accountable, although I expect the prospects of convicting him and disqualifying him from office are slim to none. Politics will almost certainly trump the merits, pun intended."

The next day, I continued to explain my support for the proceeding even as I thought it wouldn't succeed: "Trevor is right about why the trial should take place; we need to see the evidence and the refusal of the Senate to convict despite it." That written, I also pointed out that "the vote on January 26 to proceed was 55-45, while the vote yesterday was 56-44. The prosecutors made progress while the defense lost ground."

I expressed my exasperation Friday, when I observed "Republican Senators aren't just not listening to the House impeachment managers. They're not even listening to themselves. They were right about Trump then, but don't care now. Sigh." I followed that with skepticism farther down the same entry, writing in response to Jimmy Kimmel's path to conviction "That's not a promising group of Senators, but at least there are 20 of them, so 17 voting to convict is at least theoretically possible, if extremely improbable. I wish the House impeachment managers luck. They'll need it."

While the House impeachment managers continued to make progress while the former President's lawyers lost ground, it wasn't enough. Watch Senate Acquits Trump On Article of Impeachment For 'Incitement Of Insurrection' from MSNBC.

The Senate found Trump not guilty of inciting insurrection after a majority of Republicans voted against convicting the former president.

The bad news is that Trump was not convicted and disqualified from holding office again. The good news is that 57 Senators voted yes, including seven Republicans, so the prosecution made more progress. Unfortunately, I don't think another ten days of the trial would have gained 10 more votes for conviction. Here's the the court of public opinion making that judgment instead.

In the meantime, I have to temper my guarded optimism with cynicism and dedicate the same song to today's outcome that I used in response to previous legal decisions that actually did disappoint me, Everybody Knows, which I first embedded in The law is an ass with music by Leonard Cohen. Listen to Justice League Official Soundtrack | Everybody Knows - Sigrid.


May the Snyder cut of "Justice League" turn out better than the impeachment trial.