O.J. Simpson was acquitted. Hertz did not rehire him.

The O.J. Simpson trial acquittal (temporarily) kept him out of jail. It did not improve his public image no matter how many times he said that it exonerated him.

Let the Republican Senate clear Trump along partisan lines if that is their choice. Let them own Trump as their national brand if they do. His entire sordid history will have been broadcast to the nation for weeks by then. No amount of Barr pre-report release type framing will be able to get out in front of the avalanche of dirt that will be viewed daily by tens of millions. By the time impeachment reaches the Senate other indictments, other scandals, may well also be on the table; coming from NY's Southern District and elsewhere. But there will already be more than enough to bury an elephant without that.

Trump and the Republicans will claim that he's been exonerated under every possible scenario short of his removal from office, and that includes the Democratic majority House failing to impeach him, or even bothering to try. They will label any Democratic oversight hearings a partisan abuse whether or not the word impeachment is associated with them. They call it all a witch hunt now. They will call it all a witch hunt then.

We can not let fear of Republican tactics constrain how Democrats uphold the Constitutional obligations that come with the offices they hold. Once we do so we validate the Republican narrative, that all of this is merely "political", that every step we take is driven by political calculations. And once we do that we have surrendered the high moral ground and any call to actual patriotism.

"It's all political". Those are the grounds that Republicans want to fight on. Let them. Let them be exposed as acting from narrow political interest in the Senate once the House moves on impeachment. Let them do so after the whole nation knows the full story about all of the charges that they would vote to clear Trump on. Hertz dumped Simpson as their spokesman. They understood rehiring him would further damage their national brand. Let the Republicans go all in on Trump. And then let the voters vote on the Trump Party brand.