I’m watching the Senate get ready to try President Donald Trump. In anticipation, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is speaking now. He started sounding evenhanded, but it didn’t last long. McConnell quickly devolved and declared the result ahead of time. He declared he had the votes to block any Democratic amendments: No evidence or rule changes. The good Senator insisted he was offended at the idea of allowing evidence, witnesses, or any deviation on the rules. Oh, and that now trials will run over 12-hour days. Yup, all those septuagenarian Senators have to attend from 1 PM through 3 or 4 AM, Monday through Saturday. Oh, and the Senators can only have water on the floor, or (if you ask nicely) milk. No food, no coffee. And McConnell will turn all the cameras off when he chooses.

I haven’t a clue if McConnell really has the votes for any of that. If he does, the Republican party will have agreed to make the trial into a silly exercise designed to keep out any new facts. It’ll all be over in a day or two.

And the core fact remains unchanged: Nobody denies any of the charges. No Republican has said that President Trump didn’t use his office for personal benefit. None of Trump’s defenders say the President hasn’t tried to obstruct justice. All the attacks are either process and procedure, or lies.

It does make the basic facts clear. Everyone agrees that President Trump is guilty. We’ve all known that for weeks. Sure, we’re curious about all the other possible crimes, but nobody’s saying Trump is innocent.  

The real question is whether that Republican criminality matters when Republicans have a majority in the Senate. McConnell has already declared the result. We’ll have to see if that’s true.