The House impeachment of Trump reinforces the perception that Trump is unfit to be president. And in the coming year we will hear more in this regard as investigations into his criminality and corruption see the light of day. If the Democrats had sat on their hands and done nothing in the face of his blatant violations of constitutional norms, it would have weakened the effort of the entire democratic movement to defeat Trump and gang next year. No one likes a wimp.

I wonder if the mobilizing and unifying role of sexism and misogyny is adequately appreciated? Trump’s seemingly solid support among Evangelicals and white males of varying class backgrounds, for example, can’t be fully understood without taking this dynamic into account. Nor the outcome of the 2016 elections.  Nor …

Tulsi Gabbard’s decision to vote present on the two articles of impeachment yesterday is sure telling. Not sure what she is, but she’s no progressive. Some say that she is considering a 3rd party run.

At Snapper Magee’s yesterday — a local, no frills watering hole in Kingston where some customers are headed toward drunk at 3 o’clock in the afternoon — and things almost went south as opinions clashed over Trump’s impeachment. But before that happened, the conversation got reined in and each of us resumed what we were doing previously. Me listening to the juke box and dialing while drinking. That habit, I guess, I picked up from my father who was a notorious drunk dialer.

By the way, only one of Snapper’s patrons, as far as I could tell, supported Trump.

The force of events – the Ukraine “quid pro quo” and everything surrounding it – and the political wisdom and moral integrity of House Democrats explain to a large degree yesterday’s impeachment vote. Popular opposition had a hand in impeaching Trump too, but we shouldn’t suggest that it was the only (or the main) factor. Such an explanation doesn’t conform with how things rolled out over the past 3 months, not least the role of Trump’s own outrageous and self-incriminating behavior in strong arming Ukraine and the principled role of Democrats in prosecuting Trump’s violations of elementary constitutional and democratic norms.

If anything beyond the halls of Congress figured in an outsized clash of competing political coalitions, it was the results of the midterm elections.