February 5, 2021 --

The announcement, January 25, that Sen. Leahy would preside over the Senate "trial" on the impeachment of now private citizen Donald J. Trump was followed, the next day, with news that the senator had been hospitalized briefly.  LPR hopes that Vermont's senior senator was only indisposed temporarily -- that it would only be a conscience attack that would keep him from presiding over the Trump "trial."

Notwthstanding the senator's protestation that he would preside with "impartiality" over the trial, Patrick Leahy and the idea of his being impartial over a trial of a Republican is,  for LPR,  the Mother of Oxymorons.  The truth is, when it comes to Republicans, the 80-year old Leahy hasn't an impartial bone in his body.   It seems to LPR that the real threat to Leahy as presiding officer over the Trump "trial" is that he could contain his bias no more than an hour or two, and would dissolve into partisan bluster that would put to shame this sorry exercise in hysterical mean-spiritedness.

LPR would not be surprised if the Vermonter offers recusal by other means, stepping down citing concerns about his health.

Let Senate Majority Leader  Schumer then assume the presiding reins, as he has no conscience to cause him discomfort as he tries to get away with being as unfair to private citizen Trump as Judge Emmet Sullivan was to Michael Flynn.

The Senate, in a procedural vote, January 27, indicated that it will not vote to convict.   Seventeen Republicans votes are needed for conviction, added to 50 Democrat votes. 

On the procedural vote, only five Republican senators went to the Democrat side. Although the procedural vote failed 45 in favor, 55 opposed, the 55 votes are 12 votes short of the minimum needed for conviction.

LPR has an idea Sen. Schumer will propagandize the acquittal in the 2022 elections, asserting that the Republicans, by their votes, have encouraged renewed insurrection against the government.  LPR adds that by 2022, the American people will well understand who the anti-freedom party is in the U.S.

The president declared, Januarh 26, that the Trump "trial must take place. Liz Peek, on the John Batchelor Show, January 27, remarked that Biden should have put his foot down and asserted his dominance over the Democrats by ending the impeachment trial.  But how can Biden assert something he lacks?  How long will it take for the American people learn who is in charge of this radical Democratic Party, intent on imposing one-party rule on a free country?