Trump’s second impeachment trial is our chance to quit him

Follow Us Get the newsletter This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an impeachment manager of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda A second impeachment trial is a good occasion to break with Trump. Older workers are suffering in this recession. Bitcoin poses an accounting puzzle for companies. Biden has market backing for a big green push. Breaking Up With Trump Isn't That Hard to Do Is Donald Trump Sarah Palin, or is he Silvio Berlusconi? Will the former president fade away into triviality, or will he keep returning again and again and again from the political dead?   A Peter Hamby column in Vanity Fair suggests Trump is already going the way of Palin, who hasn't been heard from much since almost running for president in 2012. Stripped of his office and social media accounts, Trump is already powerless to drive media coverage, aside from the occasional angry letter penned on possibly illegal letterhead. Now he mainly responds to events, such as the impeachment trial that began today. Even Fox News seems to be moving on from Trump, writes Tara Lachapelle. In a call with investors today, Lachlan Murdoch vowed not to go down the extreme-right rabbit holes Trump has traversed lately, because the center-right is where all the money is. Some of this may just be lawsuit avoidance, as the defenestration of Lou Dobbs suggests, and it may hurt ratings in the short term. But Tara suggests it will be better for Fox in the long term. The network is a decent, if creaky, weathervane of right-wing political winds; it fired Palin not long before taking up with its new best friend, Trump. The Republican Party is a slower learner. As Jonathan Bernstein notes, Senate Republicans will likely be too afraid of Trump's supporters to convict him in his second impeachment.  Certainly Trump's impeachment defenses are not convincing, writes Ramesh Ponnuru. They likely won't sway public opinion, even if Republicans consider them suitable fig leaves. At the same time, Democrats seem to be rushing impeachment — video production skills aside — because they deem acquittal inevitable, rather than examining Trump's misdeeds in detail for the record. Voters will decide whether this is enough for Trump to pull a Berlusconi. But there's nothing stopping us from finally ignoring him.  Paid Post Our Place's Always Pan replaces eight pieces of cookware — it sautés, boils, steams, braises, strains, and looks so good you'll want to keep it out. That's why it sells out every time. But two colors were just restocked. Lucky you! Get yours now. Our Place No Economy for Older Workers We've written a bunch about how this recession is K-shaped, how it affects women and people of color much worse than white men, how it hurts tourist traps more than factory towns, and other imbalances. One inequity that hasn't gotten as much ink is how hard the recession has been for older workers. Conor Sen writes they've been dropping out of the workforce at an alarming rate, after actually gaining share in the Great Recession: This isn't a healthy development. These people still have a lot to offer the economy, but they could have a harder time finding new jobs. Having a large and growing cohort on the job market's sidelines could permanently scar the economy. It's another argument for more government relief, though it's also the kind of problem that probably can't be solved by simply mailing checks (not that checks hurt). Poverty is another such problem, Noah Smith notes. So much of the stress of being poor involves the high costs of housing, health care and food: And these won't fall without more thoughtful government interventions, such as making it easier to build affordable housing and taking the power to negotiate health costs. Caveat Emptor the Meme Investment The hot new thing these days is buying stuff just because it's fun to buy it, like GameStop and Blink Charging and Dogecoin. As with many hot new things that are fun, there is a downside that many people discover only after they've already jumped in with both feet. Take Bitcoin. Downsides abound here, from its wild volatility to how absolutely toxic it is for the environment. It also has a weird, suboptimal effect on the books of any company that might want to emulate Tesla and buy the cryptocurrency for fun and/or profit, warns Chris Bryant. Accounting rules for Bitcoin are such that companies have to ding profits if the price falls but can't actually record gains until they sell the stuff. Maybe regulators should change this, but they seem in no hurry. What regulators are doing, Matt Levine writes, is pushing any companies who want to cash in on windfall meme-stonk status by selling more stock at meme-stonk prices to warn investors, "Careful, kids, this is a meme stonk. Do not ingest meme stonk. Do not taunt meme stonk." It will probably not do any good, because fun new thing. Telltale Charts President Joe Biden has the winds of green-tech investment at his back, helping him move quickly to address climate change, writes Liam Denning.  Market inflation expectations have jumped, though nobody apparently told the rest of the bond market, writes John Authers. Further Reading Congress outlawed surprise medical bills but left some big practical questions unanswered. — Bloomberg's editorial board  AstraZeneca stopping South African vaccine trials is another sign we're in a desperate race with Covid variants. — Sam Fazeli  The American University in Beirut is fighting for its life. It's a key part of American soft power in the Arab world. — Hussein Ibish  Venezuela's opposition needs to get its act together. — Mac Margolis  Bonds are finally having their long-awaited electronic-trading revolution. — Brian Chappatta  ICYMI The WHO rejected the theory Covid escaped from a lab. Biden seems likely to push his relief plan without Republicans. The White House boosted its vaccine allocations to states. Kickers Scientists visit very old cave paintings, find an even older fossil. (h/t Ellen Kominers)  Meet the world's tiniest reptile, probably. Buy London's skinniest house. (h/t Scott Kominers for the past two kickers) Oh good, the mullet is back. (h/t Mike Smedley)  Note: Please send mullets and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.   Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. 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