Trust is not an option
Because the legislative power is divided bicamerally, the three branches of government have four leaders. The two more capable of them, Chief Justice John Roberts and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are for the moment kept at the edges of the impeachment drama. If they have large roles to play, that will come in the third act. That leaves the two less capable leaders, Pelosi and Trump, at its center. If moral authority were electricity, that duo couldn’t recharge an iPhone.
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And so we are obliged to ask the question: Who in Washington has the moral authority, the political intelligence, and the patriotism to see the country through this episode in a way that fortifies our institutions rather than undermines them, that leaves the country better off rather than damaged, that builds trust instead of pissing it away?
Answer: Nobody.
Trust is not an option. That leaves us with the second-best option: surveillance.
And so Nancy Pelosi must end the secret hearings and closed-door depositions, and put the process, the politics, and the evidence before the public.
Williamson writes well even when he’s saying dubious things, as I think he has said elsewhere in this article.