We probably should have known Mitch McConnell had the votes to block witnesses in the impeachment trial a few days ago when he said he didn't have the votes to block witnesses in the impeachment trial. Mitch likes to do that…lull the opposition into a false note of hope and then win at the last minute, thereby making himself look like the guy who wins the tough ones. But I don't think anyone's too surprised.
I agree though with David A. Graham when he writes, "But if Democrats didn't get what they'd hoped for, [Republican Senator Lamar] Alexander gave them the best outcome they could have expected."
And I say that as someone who's always suspicious of phony silver linings…like when the party that loses a big vote says, "This is the best thing that could have happened to us." I hear that and I always think, "You would have said that if you'd won." But this time, when there was zero chance of the Republican Senate ousting D.J.T. no matter what he did, the best Democrats could do was peel off a few consolation prizes. And with several G.O.P. Senators saying the Dems proved what they set out to prove but that it didn't justify removal…well, that's something. Guess that "perfect phone call" wasn't completely perfect.
Alexander's statement is not a great act of courage. He'll still vote to keep Trump in office and he really chickens out when he writes, "There is no need to consider further the frivolous second article of impeachment that would remove the president for asserting his constitutional prerogative to protect confidential conversations with his close advisers." In other words, it's perfectly fine to stonewall a Congressional investigation if it might reveal more wrongdoing.
And Trump will still say this vote and the one to acquit him prove he was utterly innocent, the whole thing was a hoax, Schiff is corrupt, the phone call was perfect, etc. I'm just glad to see a couple of Republicans — not just Alexander — take some cautious baby steps off the "Trump never does anything wrong" bandwagon.