Analysis: It’s hard for the president to cast himself as the victim of a system that looks rigged by him — especially after GOP senators say he’s guilty.
President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trialpromises to leave him more powerful in Washington — and possibly more vulnerable to defeat on the campaign trail.
That’s in part because a handful of pivotal Senate Republicans chose to criticize Trump’s behavior in office while protecting him from both official sanction and the potential jeopardy of witnesses unraveling his impeachment defense under oath. As a result, Trump is on the verge of emerging from the trial with a tacit green light to defy Congress without fear of reprisal, and also safe in the knowledge that elected representatives will push only so far to find out whether he tells the truth to the public.
“It’s arguable that he’s the most politically powerful president in American history,” presidential biographer Jon Meacham said on NBC News during a break in the trial Friday. Continue reading.
The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights