'Vindictive' and 'harsh' Trump impeachment trial won't bode well for Democrats: Historian Jay Winik

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Jay Winik: Trump impeachment trial feels 'vindictive' and 'harsh'

Prominent historian tells 'Special Report' trial will 'deeply divide' American public

The push by congressional Democrats to convict former President Donald Trump of impeachable offenses feels "vindictive," and "harsh," historian Jay Winik told "Special Report" Wednesday.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with the trial," Winik, the best-selling author of "April 1865," told host Bret Baier. "You know, being rough and tumble in American politics is nothing new. It's been like that since the founders started the country. But having said that, I think there is something that feels a little bit vindictive, a little bit harsh in all of this and that is not really the American way. 

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"If you think of Richard Nixon, he was pardoned and most historians now agree that was the right thing to do," Winik added. "With Donald Trump, if you think of where he is now, he is in Florida, he is a private citizen, he has been disgraced before the world, he's under a cloud of personal disgrace. And despite his legions of supporters, he is in many ways a man alone.

"I think the Democrats would have been well just to let it be," concluded Winik, arguing that "a trial will only deepen the divides of the American public rather than healing, and what we need right now is healing."

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Winik added that his biggest concern remains preservation of the legislative filibuster, which many Democrats are clamorning to get rid of in order to pass major agenda items.

"I feel very strongly about this question of the filibuster," he told Baier. "If you think of the halls of the Senate, in them once walked such great names as Stephen Douglas, as Charles Sumner, as Henry Clay. I mean, these are some of the great giants of American governance, and we see that debate is part of the DNA of the American fabric.

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"We should not be circumscribing debate," Winik added. " We should be encouraging it."