Regardless of where you stand on the general question of the immediately former president, realize that approximately half the country disagrees with you. And if you have rationalized the assault on the Capitol as an innocent walk in the park that just happened to take place inside federal property, then significantly more than half the nation thinks you’re out to lunch.

But given the recent Senate test vote, an impeachment conviction is not going to happen. So how to appease most Americans? Censure him. It doesn’t put the country and the Senate through a trial when it’s a foregone conclusion and there are more pressing matters to attend to. It mollifies Trump supporters by killing the issue and gives Trump detractors their pound of flesh.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently said, “I would simply say to all of my colleagues, make no mistake, there will be a trial. The evidence against the former president will be presented in living color for the nation and every one of us to see once again and no one will be able to avert their gaze from what Mr. Trump said and did and the consequences of his actions.”

But Republican Susan Collins begs to differ. “I think it’s pretty obvious from the vote today that it is extraordinarily unlikely that the president will be convicted. Just do the math. It seems to me that there is some value in looking at an alternative to proceeding with the trial…I realize the two leaders have already locked in a schedule. But it seems to me there is benefit in looking at an alternative that might be able to garner bipartisan support.”

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Senator Tim Kaine agrees. “I have been talking with a number of my colleagues, a handful, for a couple of weeks about the likelihood that we would fall short on impeachment. And by doing that, not only will we fall short but we would use time for something that we could be using for COVID relief, which I think is just so dire right now…To do a trial knowing you’ll get 55 votes at the max seems to me to be not the right prioritization of our time. Obviously we do a trial, maybe we can do it fast but my top priority is COVID relief and getting the Biden cabinet approved.

“I think there is a need for some accountability and some consequences and I think many Republicans, if you look at the words they’ve used about what happened on Jan. 6 and the President’s role in it, they’ve essentially stated that. So if we could do something like this and have it be bipartisan and thereby potentially avoid the trial, I think that would be beneficial.” It surely would.