Not a day goes by that citizens and pundits alike don’t decry how partisanship in Washington is worse than ever. This week, as the Senate trial over a completely partisan impeachment gets underway, they’re half right.

If “bipartisanship” can be defined as an ability to compromise, work or vote with the opposing political party, then there certainly is a lack of it on Capitol Hill. However, on the most serious matters before Congress in recent days and decades -- the remaking of healthcare, a Supreme Court appointee, and impeachment of a president -- the inability to compromise exists exclusively on the Democratic side of the political divide.

For all their talk about a “fair process” Democrats on Capitol Hill have demonstrated by their votes that they’re interested in anything but. The internet has a long memory.

Footage from 1998 of those leading the 2020 impeachment charge, claiming that an impeachment should never be completely partisan action, is swirling through social media. Jerrold Nadler, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Charles Schumer and others who were in office in 1999 howled loud and long that a partisan impeachment is not in the best interest of America or Americans.

They were right, but, of course, that was then, and this is now. That was their president, and this is #NotMyPresident.

President Bill Clinton, who was impeached by a partisan vote in the House, was acquitted of charges by a Republican-controlled Senate! Imagine the reverse happening to Trump.

President Clinton was impeached on December 18, 1998. As opposed to Trump, he had actually committed crimes. Clinton lied under oath about an extramarital affair with a White House intern half his age, then committed witness tampering and obstruction of justice in trying to cover it up. Those and other actions ultimately led to his disbarring. At the time, Republicans controlled both houses of the 106^th Congress. They enjoyed a 55-45 majority in the Senate, 228-206-1 in the House.

Four Articles of Impeachment were ultimately brought against Clinton. The vote on two of them passed the House of Representatives with voting support from both parties. On Article One (perjury before a grand jury), five Republicans voted "no"; Article Two (perjury in the Paula Jones case) garnered twenty- eight Republican "no" votes and failed; Article Three (obstruction of justice) saw twelve Republicans vote against it; and Article Four (abuse of power) also failed due to eighty-one Republicans voting "no."

The two surviving Articles of Impeachment were (promptly) delivered from the House to the Senate, where Republicans enjoyed a ten-seat majority. At the end of the trial, Clinton was found not guilty on Article One via a bipartisan vote that saw ten Republicans vote 'nay' along with their Democrat colleagues. Not guilty was also declared on Article Two via another bipartisan vote that saw five Republicans vote against it.

The ‘term limits now’ crowd will note that eighty-four current members of Congress also held congressional office the last time the nation saw its president impeached. There are currently forty-one sitting Democratic members of the House (all voted against all four Clinton articles). Another six Democrats, who are now senators, then served in the House (where they voted against all four articles).  All voted for Trump’s impeachment in the House in 2019. In all likelihood, all those in the Senate will vote to convict. None would vote to impeach their own; none wouldn’t vote to impeach the other’s.

The bipartisanship during the Clinton impeachment was against his impeachment and against his conviction (Republicans joined Democrats in voting “no” in both houses). Concerning the Affordable Care Act, the only bipartisanship was on the side of voting against (Democrats joined Republicans in voting “no,” but it was passed via a 100% partisan Democrat vote in both houses of congress.) So also was the case with our most recent Supreme Court justice.

Concerning SCOTUS appointees, Republicans will and do vote to confirm Democratic presidential nominees, but Democrat legislators will seldom vote to confirm Republican nominees. Brett Kavanaugh’s 50-48 senate confirmation vote saw just one of the senate’s 46 Democrats break ranks, while the other 45 voted against confirmation in solid, locked-step solidarity. As usual.

Which brings us to Trump, where, once again, the only bipartisanship was for not impeaching. Some Democrats voted “no” along with Republicans, with one so disgusted by the antics of his own party that he switched. But Democrats crammed through the impeachment along a strictly 100% partisan vote, despite their own words from yesteryear declaring such a thing despicable being blared right into their faces.

When it comes to the most monumental issues of our day, there is bipartisanship in Washington, but it exists only on the Republican side of the congressional aisle. The calls for cooperation and fairness from the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer have a decisive air of “Do as I say, not as I do” because they do almost nothing in a truly bipartisan fashion.

Derrick Wilburn is a Centennial Institute Fellow, founder of Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives and Executive Director of POC Capitol Interns.