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GOP's Rand Paul doodles as Mike Braun 'struggles to stay awake' during Trump trial, Internet calls them 'traitors'

Apparently, Rand Paul amused himself by tracing the Capitol watermark on his notepad at least three times

The second day of former President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial was approached with lack of interest by a number of GOP senators who allied with the ex-POTUS. Most of them ignored the proceedings right from the opening arguments made by the House managers since they had already made up their minds against constitutionally holding Trump responsible for his actions.

The laid-back behavior was despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pointing out to the Republicans that they were free to vote their conscience to convict Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” According to the press pool covering the trial, several pro-Trump senators were pre-occupied with other activities even as impeachment manager Rep Joe Neguse (D-CO) made his argument — imploring senators to “think for a moment, just a moment, of the lives lost” on January 6 after the Capitol was stormed by MAGA supporters.

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According to NBC’s Kasie Hunt, Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) appeared to be “struggling to stay awake,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) “wasn’t paying much attention,” Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) was inspecting “what appeared to be a map of Southeast Asia," and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was “doodling." Apparently, Paul amused himself by tracing the Capitol watermark on his notepad at least three times, according to Grace Segers of CBS. NPR’s Lisa Desjardins reported that Paul “notably and clearly intentionally turned his back” when videos of an October incident in which pro-Trump drivers pursued a Biden campaign bus was played by the impeachment managers.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), a fierce Trump defender, chose to watch the trial from the gallery rather than his desk. When he was caught reading a stack of documents from his manilla folder, he said he was reading legal briefs in the case. “Well I've got the trial briefs with me, and taking notes. I'm sitting up there A, because it's a little less claustrophobic than on the floor, but B, I've also got a straight shot. Where I sit in the Senate chamber, as you know, I'm kind of in the corner,” he told CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. “I can basically see the back of their heads. But I sort of picked a spot where I can look right down on them, I can see the TV, and it's interesting." Hawley said Democrats are presenting their case in a "very understandable, easy-to-follow manner." But he added: "I don't think it's going to change any minds. In my view, we don't have jurisdiction."

Some of the senators even left the chamber during the presentation of the trial. According to pool reporter Allison Pecorin of ABC, Paul was absent from his desk for the better part of the 1 pm hour and returned after a break was called and “handed a folded piece of paper” to Trump attorney David Schoen. Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) told reporters the trial is "gonna be pretty tedious," calling it a “political exercise,” adding, "You can do it in a couple hours, and be done with this." A number of them seemed to have already made up their minds about how they wanted to vote. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) stated bluntly, “I don’t think there’s anything that’s been said by either side that has changed any votes.” Sen Mike Rounds (R-SD) said “I've continued to say that it is not constitutional to impeach and convict a former president."

There was considerable outrage on social media regarding the kind of behavior demonstrated by the Republican senators during the trial. "Where were they when it all happened?" one of them said while another wrote, "Well you know, co-conspirators often behave as if it’s all ridiculous to hide their culpability." One more quipped, "Traitors." The next wrote, "They should be expelled and not counted as part of 2/3 vote."

Another remarked, "Disqualify them as jurors." One more commented, "And they will go on Fox tonight." A commenter tweeted, "This is why the House Managers need to call witnesses. Much harder to tune out an officer testifying in person what they went through vs videos." One more said, "If they don’t want to take their job seriously, then resign, I am sure there are other people willing to put in the time and effort required to do this job correctly." A person quipped, "They can’t handle the truth!"