Romney

Mitt Romney became the first senator in US history to vote to convict a president of his own party in an impeachment trial (This is somewhat misleading, as at least a dozen GOP senators were willing to pull the plug on Nixon, which is why he quit).

Was this an opportunistic vote rather than a principled one? My guess is that it was a product of deeply mixed motives, but ultimately I don’t care one way or another, because this is a truly great development for one reason: It totally robs Trump of any sense of triumph in regard to his “acquittal.”

Trump demands total loyalty, which is a product of his bottomless self-loathing, which can only be salved by unambiguous displays of groveling worship by his followers. Romney has robbed him of that, thus destroying his moment of triumph in his own mind, which, since he’s a hopeless narcissist, is indistinguishable for him from reality itself.

So good job Mitt, even if this was just an audition to fill The Last Honest Mavericky Man seat vacated by John McCain.

Update: Apparently every Democrat is voting to convict. So this all went as well as could possibly be expected (Dem solidarity and a GOP defector).