Mitt Romney does the right thing - which stands out because he's a Republican

Mitt Romeney did the right thing in voting to remove Trump from office. Romney is a rightwing Republican plutocrat whose policy position vary from bad to terrible. But he did the right thing on the removal vote. And he was the only Republican in the Senate to do so.

The Senate Democrats actually managed to stay united in voting for removal! It's almost enough to make people who don't believe in miracles rethink their position.

That included Democratic Senators who had been considered shaky: Doug Jones (AL), Joe Manchin (WV), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Jon Tester (MT).

Impeaching Trump was the right thing for the House to do. Removing him from office would have been the right thing for the Senate to do. Accountability for all public officials and especially for Presidents is important. And that includes responsible, independent investigation of public officials for crimes committed in their official roles.

Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer deserves credit for holding the caucus together on this. He's really not very effective in many ways in his leadership role. But credit where credit is due.

The rest of the Democratic Senators deserve credit, too, particularly ones like Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren who have been consistently critical of Trump's policies. But it's in the nature of this kind of vote on removing the President that those voting against their party or public expectation get more attention and credit.

That's why Kansas Sen. Edmund Ross (1826-1907) gets far more credit than he really deserves in American history.