Mr. McConnell, calculating that any testimony would be very bad for the president and thus for the Republicans’ Senate majority, persuaded his colleagues to take their lumps and vote no on witnesses. The precedent this sets is alarming enough: the Senate abandoning its role as the ultimate guard against a dangerous president. Mr. Trump has accepted foreign assistance to win one election, has actively sought it out for another and has given no indication that he plans to stop doing so. Instead, with the Senate’s blessing for his scheming to have Ukraine investigate the Bidens, Mr. Trump now poses an even greater threat to the next election. Senate Republicans’ indifference to the overwhelming public support for calling witnesses was of a piece with the party’s minority politics.

Source: New York Times February 01, 2020 02:48 UTC