With legacy in mind, this man is the most intriguing Republican in the Senate. While giving the eulogy of his longtime political hero, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) mapped out the impact impeachments could have on one’s legacy. Of the Watergate hearings, “the most famous words were Howard Baker’s: ‘What did the president know and when did he know it?'” Alexander recalled in 2014. “The exposure made Baker a national hero.” It isn’t ironic that Alexander now sits in the shoes of his old boss and fellow titan of Tennessee politics. Anyone who sits in as many seats of power, and for as long, as Alexander has — a two-term governor in the 1980s, U.S. secretary of education in the ’90s and U.S. senator since 2003 — is expected to face critical choices. As the Senate prepares to consider whether to allow witnesses such as former national security adviser John Bolton at the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Alexander is by all accounts the crucial linchpin. If he crosses the aisle, the soon-to-retire senator would send this trial down an unpredictable path. |