Most Congressional and Senatorial business are largely bullshit….
And this “Trial” for impeachement is moreso than most.
A blind man can see that this is not Constitutional, That this is a Show Trial…..a Kangaroo Court.
The outcome of the vote to impeach was never in doubt. It is a Witch Hunt, at best.
Donald Trump may have been smarter to not bother to respond. Not deigned to recognize the charges. Simply ignored them.
If they had wished to charge him with Sedition, perhaps….(not that they could make it endure)…But this is merely an attempt to make sure he is not a threat again in the future, and a way of damaging him in the present. At the end of it, the Congress (and now the Senate) is showing that they are not a body of honorable statesmen (and women) but rather a group of partisan hacks. Twisting the Constitution in such a manner, for vindictiveness, will not gain them any credibility, except with those who are completely partisan and uninformed (which may be a large part of their base).
No matter what the outcome, they have damaged their own credibility, not only in the eye of folks like me, but in their own Faithful.
Further, if they have no repsect for the rule of law, or the Constitution, why should I have any respect for them? Why should they, whose authority derives from that same Constitution have any authority over me and my fellows? Since they care not for the Rule of Law as derived from that document, why should I give that deliberative body any credence? Cede any authority to them?
In the end, whether they actually impeach President Trump or not, they lose.