Donald Trump’s defense gets its turn in his  second Senate impeachment trial today. The former president’s lawyers are expected to focus on the unconstitutionality of the proceeding and the protections afforded by the First Amendment to free political speech.

The rest of us should be focused on a subtext of the prosecution’s case that was directly acknowledged only at the end of its interminable, highly theatrical presentation. Rep. Ted Lieu of California actually declared that “National Guard troops in full body armor still patrol” Washington, D.C. because Mr. Trump refuses to say “the election was not stolen.”

In other words, this impeachment is really about political warfare. Its purpose is: to suppress further inquiry into 2020 electoral grand larceny, enshrine the techniques used to accomplish it and destroy Donald Trump and anyone else who contends it occurred.

That must be repudiated.

This is Frank Gaffney.