[Above, at Trump rally in Kentucky, Rand Paul calls for illegal outing of whistleblower. Nov 2019]
Schrödinger’s Senator, the physics paradox known in this dimension as Rand Paul, a man from the multiverse where anything is possible including being elected in the 2016 Presidential Goat Rodeo and being elected to the Senate or both or neither can happen at the same time or never --
-- is making his signature power move!
Rand Paul threatens fellow Republicans with explosive witness votes
Sen. Rand Paul is waging a fierce campaign to prevent the Senate from hearing witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, vowing to force tough votes on his fellow Republicans if they break with the president or back Democrats’ demands for new evidence…
Paul says if four or more of his GOP colleagues join with Democrats to entertain new witness testimony, he will make the Senate vote on subpoenaing the president’s preferred witnesses, including Hunter Biden and the whistleblower who revealed the Ukraine scandal — polarizing picks who moderate Republicans aren’t eager to call. So he has a simple message for his party: end the trial before witnesses are called.
Yes, highly principled libertarian constitutional conservative Rand Paul is publicly jury tampering, er, stacking the deck, which seems, um, ill-advised, but perhaps is normal in one of his other universes?
“If you vote against Hunter Biden, you’re voting to lose your election, basically. Seriously. That’s what it is,” Paul said during an interview in his office on Wednesday. “If you don’t want to vote and you think you’re going to have to vote against Hunter Biden, you should just vote against witnesses, period.”
One can only imagine how amply be-chinned #MoscowMitch must be feeling to have this serious moment in Senate history be made into a circus side show!
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned Republicans not to divide the party and endanger his slim GOP majority, but Paul’s play could be useful to him. If the pressure campaign stifles the small group of Republicans open to hearing from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton, McConnell will be able to conclude the trial in the swift fashion he’s long sought.
Oh. Never mind.
“Sometimes it’s good to have people unified. … I’m for immediate dismissal, but I know it’s not just four [senators]. There might be 10 that are against immediate dismissal. It’ll just be a vote that fails,” Paul said. “When it’s something that we’re trying to stay together and there is the other team trying to attack our leader, I think it behooves us to have as much unanimity as we can.”
Because it is so much more important for Republicans to stay in power to give a crooked president full acquittal so he can continue to enrich himself and aid our enemies, than it is to hold a fair trial, listen to witnesses and see evidence. We’re in Wonderland –
“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first—verdict afterwards.”
—Chapter 12, Alice’s Evidence
Republished with permission from Mock Paper Scissors
