Just what the hell is going on?

[imanamerican63]

What is Mitch pulling now? I have a funny feeling Mitch is going to do something stupid and hide the votes?

[budkin]

1. If he hides the votes, Trump will be removed.

I think he might be trying to end this thing tonight.

[MontanaMama]

2. Wait. What?

They’re not voting for anything tonight I don’t think.

[budkin]

4. Ok yeah sorry... I was confused.

Nevermind.

[MontanaMama]

6. You scared me.

Off topic...I always do a double take when I see your screen name. My dog’s nickname is “budnik”...close to your name! His real name is Tag...so I don’t remember where we got budnik.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Basically, the way he's treating the Democrats...

[gratuitous]

5. Reading the liveblog over at Daily Kos

It appears that McConnell may have set things up poorly to end the trial, requiring a unanimous consent vote. Now, as we've seen over the last several years, McConnell has been quite adept at objecting to unanimous consent to vote on motions and bills. Under the rules as I understand it (and I could be totally wrong), once a motion or bill fails to get unanimous consent to proceed, it has to be introduced, read out, and is subject to amendment. Each amendment has to be read, debated, and then voted on. Amendments under the rules take about two hours each of floor time, and that time can be lengthened by a request for a roll call vote and other procedural maneuvers.

Not so very long ago, the Senate was a clubby place, and requests for unanimous consent to proceed to a vote on a motion were routinely granted. The business of the Senate proceeded with a form of alacrity in that time. It wasn't exceedingly fast or efficient, but it was fast enough for much of the Senate's business. McConnell poisoned that well, certainly for a very long time and maybe forever, with his constant objections to requests for unanimous consent. Getting to a vote to end all this isn't going to happen until every Senator is damn good and ready to get to that vote. McConnell can spend the weekend sucking on the shitty end of that stick.