Sen. Susan Collins has been so proud for so long to hold the seat of Margaret Chase Smith, who only a bit more than a year into her first term in the Senate stood before her peers and so eloquently castigated her fellow Republicans, including Joe McCarthy, for their pursuit of, as she phrased it, the Four Horsemen of Calumny: “Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear.”

So how will Collins vote in the upcoming impeachment trial of this president she formerly derided as unqualified, but who she has generally supported legislatively?

And just as important, how will Collins vote on all the procedural issues of evidence and witnesses as the Senate as a whole makes politically premised decisions on appeals of judicial determinations by the presiding officer, Chief Justice John Roberts?

It’ll be interesting to see how she handles what may be an entire string of difficult decisions, or whether she supports Republican efforts to derail the entire effort.

Is she going to be complicit in striking deals with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who she trusts so much?

 

Ernie Hilton

Starks