For the third time in American history, the House of Representatives has impeached a president.

Far from treating charges against Donald Trump with the seriousness they deserve, the Senate’s Republican majority is ratcheting up the spin machine to preemptively exonerate their ethically bankrupt leader, evidence and common sense be damned. And they’re mixing a bitter cocktail of misdirection and willful ignorance to help them win the day.

But the facts in the case aren’t seriously disputed. Rather, House and Senate GOP members have bounced from one flimsy defense to another, continually moving the goalposts to confuse voters, muddy the waters, and claim fleeting victories from one news cycle to the next.

Spout off enough gobbledygook, drum up false equivalencies, regurgitate debunked conspiracy theories, and perhaps enough people toss common sense aside and provide Republicans enough political cover for a bogus acquittal of Trump.

For the sake of American democracy, the rule of law, and ethical decency, we cannot let that deeply cynical plan come to fruition. We must hold our elected leaders to account. The president deserves due process and a fair trial in the Senate. Relevant witnesses should be called and questioned. Evidence laid forth. And then Trump should be removed from office for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

We know this because the evidence is both publicly available and crystal clear. To paraphrase Trump’s handpicked ambassador to the EU, of course there was a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Everyone was in the loop – including multiple senior administration officials – and understood that to be the case. Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the American public this sort of bribery happens all the time and to just “get over it.”

Well, we can’t. And we shouldn’t. Demand the US Senate hold a proper trial, hear from key witnesses, present the evidence, and remove President Trump from the office he is so woefully unfit to hold.

For the third time in American history, the House of Representatives has impeached a president.

Far from treating charges against Donald Trump with the seriousness they deserve, the Senate’s Republican majority is ratcheting up the spin machine to preemptively exonerate their ethically bankrupt leader, evidence and common sense be damned. And they’re mixing a bitter cocktail of misdirection and willful ignorance to help them win the day.

But the facts in the case aren’t seriously disputed. Rather, House and Senate GOP members have bounced from one flimsy defense to another, continually moving the goalposts to confuse voters, muddy the waters, and claim fleeting victories from one news cycle to the next.

Spout off enough gobbledygook, drum up false equivalencies, regurgitate debunked conspiracy theories, and perhaps enough people toss common sense aside and provide Republicans enough political cover for a bogus acquittal of Trump.

For the sake of American democracy, the rule of law, and ethical decency, we cannot let that deeply cynical plan come to fruition. We must hold our elected leaders to account. The president deserves due process and a fair trial in the Senate. Relevant witnesses should be called and questioned. Evidence laid forth. And then Trump should be removed from office for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

We know this because the evidence is both publicly available and crystal clear. To paraphrase Trump’s handpicked ambassador to the EU, of course there was a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Everyone was in the loop – including multiple senior administration officials – and understood that to be the case. Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the American public this sort of bribery happens all the time and to just “get over it.”

Well, we can’t. And we shouldn’t. Demand the US Senate hold a proper trial, hear from key witnesses, present the evidence, and remove President Trump from the office he is so woefully unfit to hold.

As the House moved to impeach President Trump’s for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, attention quickly turned to the Senate, where Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will oversee historic proceedings on Trump’s potential removal from office. The charges put forward are serious, the facts largely uncontested.

The flailing narratives put forth by Republicans, however, reek of desperation and obfuscation. Attempts to ignore, deflect, and defend Trump’s systemic abuse of power by the GOP thus far have been galling by any measure, but Sen. McConnell has indicated things are about to get much worse.

In a jaw-dropping interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, McConnell baldly admitted that the President stood “zero chance” of being removed from office and that Senate Republicans would work in “total coordination” with the White House on the trial’s proceedings – a stunning admission of impropriety, even by the GOP’s abominable standards.

True, impeachment requires the judgement of political figures, but the seriousness of a formal trial before the full Senate demands a sober, somber examination of the facts, not a predetermined acquittal by political cronies serving an audience of one. If an ordinary citizen were called for jury duty and notified the judge – in advance – that she would work in total coordination with the defense before hearing any evidence, she would be rightly ridiculed and dismissed. McConnell should be held to the same standard.

Demand that Mitch McConnell recuse himself from the impeachment trial of President Trump for undermining due process and his craven promise of partiality. History is watching, and democracy is at stake.

As the House moved to impeach President Trump’s for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, attention quickly turned to the Senate, where Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will oversee historic proceedings on Trump’s potential removal from office. The charges put forward are serious, the facts largely uncontested.

The flailing narratives put forth by Republicans, however, reek of desperation and obfuscation. Attempts to ignore, deflect, and defend Trump’s systemic abuse of power by the GOP thus far have been galling by any measure, but Sen. McConnell has indicated things are about to get much worse.

In a jaw-dropping interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, McConnell baldly admitted that the President stood “zero chance” of being removed from office and that Senate Republicans would work in “total coordination” with the White House on the trial’s proceedings – a stunning admission of impropriety, even by the GOP’s abominable standards.

True, impeachment requires the judgement of political figures, but the seriousness of a formal trial before the full Senate demands a sober, somber examination of the facts, not a predetermined acquittal by political cronies serving an audience of one. If an ordinary citizen were called for jury duty and notified the judge – in advance – that she would work in total coordination with the defense before hearing any evidence, she would be rightly ridiculed and dismissed. McConnell should be held to the same standard.

Demand that Mitch McConnell recuse himself from the impeachment trial of President Trump for undermining due process and his craven promise of partiality. History is watching, and democracy is at stake.

As the House moved to impeach President Trump’s for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, attention quickly turned to the Senate, where Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will oversee historic proceedings on Trump’s potential removal from office. The charges put forward are serious, the facts largely uncontested.

The flailing narratives put forth by Republicans, however, reek of desperation and obfuscation. Attempts to ignore, deflect, and defend Trump’s systemic abuse of power by the GOP thus far have been galling by any measure, but Sen. McConnell has indicated things are about to get much worse.

In a jaw-dropping interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, McConnell baldly admitted that the President stood “zero chance” of being removed from office and that Senate Republicans would work in “total coordination” with the White House on the trial’s proceedings – a stunning admission of impropriety, even by the GOP’s abominable standards.

True, impeachment requires the judgement of political figures, but the seriousness of a formal trial before the full Senate demands a sober, somber examination of the facts, not a predetermined acquittal by political cronies serving an audience of one. If an ordinary citizen were called for jury duty and notified the judge – in advance – that she would work in total coordination with the defense before hearing any evidence, she would be rightly ridiculed and dismissed. McConnell should be held to the same standard.

Demand that Mitch McConnell recuse himself from the impeachment trial of President Trump for undermining due process and his craven promise of partiality. History is watching, and democracy is at stake.