Byron York’s Daily Memo: House impeachment managers veer off course

HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS VEER OFF COURSE. There’s general agreement that on Wednesday, the first day of arguments in the impeachment trial of former President Trump, the Democratic House managers did a good job of portraying what an ugly and violent event the Capitol riot was. People knew that, of course, but the managers made effective use of video to remind everyone. Where they fell short was in making the argument that then-President Donald Trump was responsible for it. “Most Republicans thought House managers were effective,” said one Republican senator in a text exchange. “But Wednesday was more about inflaming emotions with video of riot, not proving Trump directed.”
 
On Thursday, the mangers ran off the road. In an attempt to link the Capitol riot to 2016 Trump campaign rallies and controversies during the Trump presidency, the managers made an increasingly partisan argument that most Republicans are sure to reject. The managers suggested that the campaign rallies, in which on rare occasions some members of the audience tried to remove protesters seeking to disrupt the event, and the violence in Charlottesville, in which a white nationalist killed a protester, were somehow previews of Trump’s alleged incitement of the Capitol riot. Lead impeachment manager Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin called it “Donald Trump’s continuing pattern and practice of inciting violence.”
 
The problem for the House managers is that Republicans lived through all those events, and many have a different view of them. Some went to Trump rallies in 2016. Some have looked carefully at Trump’s famous “very fine people” remarks and do not subscribe to the dominant media characterization of his words. And they are well aware of many Trump events in which he made remarks that some in the press described as “incendiary,” and nothing untoward happened. In other words, they see the Capitol riot as a unique event — thankfully, it was — and not as part of a “continuing pattern and practice” of Trumpian violence.

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So the managers probably lost Republican support on Thursday, rather than gaining it. “To me, they’re losing credibility the longer they talk,” Republican Senator James Inhofe told reporters.
 
Now it’s the Trump defense team’s turn. After a terrible performance on Tuesday, the day both sides argued the constitutionality of trying a former president, Trump lawyers Bruce Castor and David Schoen have been silent observers of the Democratic case. Now, they’ll have a chance to try again.
 
The Trump defenders have said they won’t take much time, that they will present the entire defense in three or four hours. That’s plenty of time to make the case.

First, they will emphasize  that when Trump, in his January 6 speech on the Ellipse, used martial language like “fight like hell,” he was employing common political rhetoric and was not inciting violence. They will, or at least should, emphasize that point by showing video of Democratic figures like Joe Biden, Charles Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal, and yes, House impeachment managers Raskin and Eric Swalwell, using precisely the same phrase. Those Democrats’ intent was not to incite their listeners to commit physical violence, the lawyers will say, and neither was Trump’s.

Second, the Trump defenders will point to the personal agency of each of the rioters. Some who are now facing criminal charges are saying they only acted because the president told them to. But Trump’s team will point to the vast majority of people who attended the Ellipse rally and who did not go on to storm the Capitol. They heard the same message from Trump that day, and they had heard the same speeches and read the same tweets from Trump in the weeks leading up to January 6, and yet they did not ransack the Capitol or attack Capitol Police. Perhaps the key to understanding the violence is to focus on the listener, and not on the speaker.
 
Third, and finally, the Trump defenders will remind senators that the trial itself is an unconstitutional exercise. Yes, 56 senators voted against that position, allowing the trial to go forward. But the Trump team, supported by some impressive legal authorities, still believes the trial does, in fact, violate the Constitution. So do the 44 Republicans who voted that way, and the defenders will make sure that senators remember that.
 
That’s it. The Trump defense is just not that complicated. The question, though, is whether Castor and Schoen, who struggled with making a basic presentation on Tuesday, are up to the job. But even if they are not, it’s likely that most Republican senators have already thought through the case in these terms anyway. And that will mean, unless there is an earth-shaking surprise in store, the former president will be acquitted in the next few days.
 
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