Rene Saguisag
THE screaming headlines had predicted that despite the “stunning evidence,” Trump would be acquitted — and he was. He had told his followers “stop the steal” and try they did by storming the US Capitol. But the Senate was not to be denied an exercise in pure partisanship. Acquitted. That’s politics, as I was to learn in 1987-1992 and never really fully appreciated.
When Republican Prez Andrew Johnson, the Democratic successor of the assassinated Republican Abraham Lincoln — at that time, the prez and the veep need not have to be teammates — was impeached by the Democratic House, he was acquitted by the Senate, which fell short of one vote, denied by Sen. Edmund Ross. He and his family were ostracized and suffered from poverty, but it earned him a sterling spot in Jack Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.
There were 54 senators at the time, and 36 votes would have resulted in conviction. However, Ross denied the Senate the critical 36th vote; 35-19 resulted in acquittal. I assume they also voted alphabetically and when they reached Ross, game over. Two-thirds, or 36, to convict was gone.
In our Constitution, two-thirds of 24, or 16, was needed to pass a treaty to extend the US bases in 1991. We naysayers needed only nine (or even as few as eight as our colleague Sen. Raul S. Manglapus had left the Senate to be named Foreign Affairs secretary). We were the 12 Magnificent/Malificent No! senators.
If my memory is true, the critical eighth “no” vote was delivered by Manong Ernie Maceda at 3 p.m., and he colorfully bellowed consummatum est with a flourish. Manong Johnny Ponce Enrile’s explanation was a most effective emotional speech about us surviving and doing well even after the last bar girl would have turned off the last bar light in Olongapo.
On Prez Trump, I continue to be baffled why Chief Justice John Roberts didn’t preside considering that the one impeached was yet president. Not that it would have mattered — Trump had the votes and trial would have been over in a week as all was clockwork. I also wonder whether those voting “no” could have added the qualification or penalty of censure. We get more of the misconduct we don’t penalize. Even children know that.
May Trump be sued? Well, there’s a slew of pending lawsuits, including sexual harassment. It is hard to see what the latter may see as presidential in grabbing a woman’s pussy. That would be a grave abuse of power.
Kennedy, Nixon and Clinton all raised the defense of immunity and failed. The latter, as prez, had to buy peace in the case of Paula Jones at the cost of $850,000. Kennedy had to pay $17,500 and Nixon $42,000, to settle.
Bipartisan censure for Trump may be a slap in the wrist, given that five were killed, but in politics, at times, if you can’t have what you like, you have to like what you have, and move on. But an Edmund Ross is a jewel.
For Trump, his troubles are far from over. His acquittal was not the end; rather, in Churchillian cadence, only the end of the beginning of the lawsuits he faces, which will now be full-court-pressed.
Source ManilaTimes 19-02-2021
The author, a former Philippine senator, voted down the renewal of the US base in 1991